


The Second Great War

by JSmith25



Category: Bits of Aligned and G1, Pacific Rim (2013), Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Gen, Science Fiction, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-11-12
Packaged: 2018-01-20 20:43:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1524947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JSmith25/pseuds/JSmith25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the six years that the Autobots have been on Earth, humanity has enjoyed the most prosperous era in its history. With the Autobots, they had nothing to fear. With the Autobots, they were untouched, untroubled by anything the Universe could throw at them. But then came San Francisco. Then came the greatest threat they had ever faced. Then came the Kaiju.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. K-Day

**Prologue**

When I was a kid, whenever I'd feel small or lonely, I'd look up at the stars. Wondered if there was life out there. I was right.

I was eight when Mission City was devastated by an alien attack. The government tried to cover it up, to pretend it never happened, but they hadn't counted on the sheer number of recordings captured on cameras and cell phones. The recordings soon found their way onto the internet, and it was only days until the secret was out. And that was when they told us: we weren't alone in the Universe.

The public was in uproar. Riots broke out all over the world, countries strengthened their military, international relationships began to break. Everyone was fearful of another attack. But that attack never came. Instead, the aliens came out into the open, unafraid of showing themselves. They helped repair the damage they had caused, rescuing hundreds of people from the rubble, and saving the lives of hundreds more. Government estimates predicted that their efforts would save billions of dollars. The Autobots were labelled heroes.

We were desperate to know everything about the aliens, so the Autobots became rockstars. The media clamoured for interviews, the tabloids fought to get exclusive photos. Toys, cartoons and movies were made celebrating their achievements. Car manufacturers offered to pay millions for the Autobots to endorse their companies. The 'Transformania' lasted for several years, helped by the intermittent arrival of more of the alien robots. Humanity was obsessed.

Over the next few years, the Autobots continued to prove themselves, helping out with earthquakes, floods, oil spills, and the swine flu pandemic. Occasionally, they would fight off an attack from an opposing faction of alien robots. The five years from two thousand and eight to twenty-thirteen was one of the most prosperous periods mankind had ever seen. With the Autobots, we had nothing to fear. With the Autobots, we were untouched, untroubled by anything the Universe could throw at us.

But then came San Francisco. Then came the greatest threat humanity had ever faced. Then came the Kaiju.

* * *

**Chapter 1: K-Day**

August 10, 2013 – Autobot Command, 0830 hours

_Over the past few years, an advanced team of Autobots have taken refuge on Earth under my command. Together, we form an Emergency Response Unit. Our job is to protect the people of Earth from the threats their very planet throws against them._

"What's the latest, Ratchet?" Optimus asked, walking up beside the Autobot medic. Ratchet was monitoring a large array of screens, all of which were showing various news reports happening in San Francisco. His assistant, Jolt, was trawling through complicated graphs and data tables on a nearby console.

"Still not sure, Prime," Ratchet said. "We know something's heading towards the Bay, but no one knows what it is. I've asked the Pentagon to clarify, but they say they're in the dark too. Jolt's hacked in for good measure, but it appears as if they're telling the truth this time."

"Looks like we may have an emergency on our hands. Watch the situation carefully, and if anything happens, let me know."

"Will do, Prime."

~8~

_One of the greatest assets to our efforts is Wheeljack. A great scientist on Cybertron, he had a keen eye for experimenting. On Earth, his experiments have largely been successful, and he has greatly improved the lives of humans and Autobots during the three short years he has been here._

"Wheeljack, how goes the weapons testing?"

"It's going excellent as usual, Optimus. I've removed Ironhide's arm cannons and supplied him with pistols he can store on his back. Should make it a lot easier for him to get into tight spaces now," the Autobot scientist said, tossing one of the weapons specialist's canons aside.

"Hopefully he won't explode," Mirage said. "Your experiments are always exploding, Wheeljack."

Wheeljack sighed. "Those guns aren't experiments, Mirage. I've been working on them for years. They're smaller, sleeker, lighter...superior to the cannons in every way."

"Hmph," Crosshairs said. "Sounds like you've just copied my guns and given them to 'hide over here."

"That's not true, Crosshairs, and you know it. I designed Ironhide's new weapons from scratch, specifically as replacements for his cannons.

Ironhide tossed one of his new guns from hand to hand. "I liked my cannons," he grumbled. "Made me look tough."

"You always look tough, Ironhide," Chromia said kindly, patting the old Autobot on the knee.

"Pah, take it outside you two," Mirage said, turning away from the display of affection.

Optimus smiled and left the Weapons room, leaving Mirage and Chromia to their argument.

~8~

_Although we are all happy on Earth, I sometimes think that our job is too dull for some of us. The younger Autobots were born in war, and killing Decepticons is all they know. I can only pray that they eventually outgrow their violent tendencies._

"Hyah!" Drift shouted, and he jumped off the platform, his sword raised above his head. His target was right in front of him, and he brought the sword down - only for it to be blocked.

"It'll take more than that to get the better of me!" Sideswipe grinned, and he lashed out and kicked Drift away. Transforming his hand into a blaster, he fired several shots over the Autobot swordsman's head. "I win...again."

"Only because you used your guns," Drift snapped, pushing himself to his feet. "If it was swords only, it wouldn't even be a competition."

"Hey now, don't go startin' an argument, because we all know who the best fighter is: me!"

Drift and Sideswipe scowled as Jazz swung down from a catwalk.

"Sure, Jazz. The day you learn how to pick up a sword, let me know," Drift said. Jazz was infamous for his lack of competence with any sort of melee weapon, mainly because he'd never bothered trying one.

"Hey now, we all know swords and me don't get along. I think I'll just stick to my guns."

Sideswipe and Drift exchanged glances. Sideswipe grinned.

"Hey Jazz, look. Jolt's outside his lab!" Sideswipe said, indicating a spot behind Jazz.

"Really? Where?" Jazz turned, and was promptly knocked sideways by a blow from Drift's sword.

"Hey, that wasn't funny!"

~8~

_Thankfully though, not all of us have expressed our idleness with violence. The Wreckers have thankfully decided to express their boredom almost constant construction._

"Tell me again," Arcee said, "what the point of this is?"

"Extra protection against rockslides and avalanches," Leadfoot explained. "If you're working in an area just after a landslide, chances are there'll be another while you're there. If you wear this, your paint ain't gonna get scratched."

"Wreckers' guarantee," Topspin added.

"So it's a suit of armour?" Elita-One asked. "Can you imagine Ironhide putting that on?"

Roadbuster sighed. "We don' care what that big idiot looks like, just as long as he uses the damn thing. It'll stop all the scratches he keeps getting. You should hear Wheeljack grumble about how much paint he goes through every year. It's taking up too much of his budget, he says."

"Wheeljack's problems are Wheeljack's problems," Arcee said. "Ironhide should just be thankful that he hasn't blown up yet."

"I don't understand Wheeljack's 'putation," Leadfoot said. "He don't blow stuff up any more than we do."

"You tell us when to expect it. With Wheeljack, it just happens."

~8~

_While most of us have forged strong bonds of friendship over the years, there is an exception to the rule. Mudflap and Skids have irritated everyone at some stage or another, but hopefully they'll soon grow out of it._

Hound whistled cheerfully to himself as he polished one of his many guns. Although he rarely had to use them, he always made sure they were well looked after and remained in top condition. After all, you never know when they might come in handy. He remembered an incident a year ago, when several humans had been taken hostage by a group of terrorists. The only way to free the hostages was to injure the terrorists from range - something Ironhide's cannons couldn't do without blowing both parties into oblivion. Hound was happy to provide the solution.

Suddenly, a loud thump on the wall interrupted his work. Hound stopped whistling and listened intently for any further sounds. Sure enough, raised voices could be heard from the next room.

Sighing, Hound stood up. "Do they ever learn?" he muttered, and made to go for door, before deciding that smashing through the wall would be much more effective.

CRASH!

The Twins stopped fighting immediately and stared up at Hound.

"How many times have I told you two to cut it out?" Hound rumbled, picking up the small, troublesome Autobots with ease. "If you two can't behave, I'll send you to Wheeljack's laboratory. I hear he's working on something big."

Skids and Mudflap glanced at each other.

"Uh, he did it, not me!" Skids said immediately. "You can't go blamin' me for something this idiot decided to do."

"Hey, that ain't fair!" Mudflap retorted. "You started it! You said my arm was too big!"

"I was just statin' a fact. If you can't accept life -"

"You, Skids, shut up," Hound said before the situation got out of hand. "Your arm's too big too. Now quit it or you're both going to Wheeljack."

The Twins nodded meekly, and Hound promptly dropped them.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Good. Might do you good to feel some pain now and then."

"Aw, Hound, we're sorry. I won't do it again," Mudflap promised. "I don't know about Skids here, though, you can't control him."

"All right, that's it," Skids said, and flung himself at his brother, pummelling his fists into the orange metal.

Fortunately for the Twins, Hound was stopped from taking further action by alarms blaring through the building, followed by the sound of Optimus' voice over the comm. system.

"All Autobots to report to the Control Room; this is an emergency!"

All thoughts of the Twins disappeared from Hound's circuits, and he hastened to the Control Room.

A few seconds later, Mudflap looked up. "Hey, where did Hound go?" he said. "Look what you did, you made him go away!"

"That wasn't me, I thought I heard Optimus saying something over the speaker things," Skids replied.

"No you didn't."

"Yeah I did."

"That's what you think."

"No, that's what you think."

The pair of them continued arguing all the way to the Control Room.

~8~

0930 hours

_'Breaking news, a giant monster has just emerged from beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. My god, it - it must be at least three hundred feet tall!'  
_ the news reporter said. It was evident from his voice that he was panicking, and for good reason. Giant monsters attacking cities was a concept usually reserved for the cinema.

"Ratchet, any idea where that creature has come from?" Optimus asked.

"None I'm afraid. I've looked in the relevant databases, but the search comes up clean. No one has a clue."

"It could not have appeared from nowhere," Optimus mused.

The door behind him whooshed open, allowing the other Autobots entry.

"We're all here, Prime," Ironhide reported. "What's the crisis?"

Optimus stepped aside, allowing the Autobots to gaze upon the scene in San Francisco. A giant monster was approaching the Golden Gate Bridge, its arms reaching out to scrape against the metal pylons. Cars crossing the bridge skidded to a halt, their frightened occupants staring out the window to get a look at the behemoth towering above them.

"Now that is one big ugly monster," Jazz said. "Wouldn't want to be in the way of that thing."

"Well, those people are," Chromia pointed out. She turned to Optimus. "Are we heading over there to stop it?"

"Yes. If this creature is hostile, the amount of damage it could cause would be catastrophic. Even if is not, there is still a strong possibility that it will cause a large amount of damage, merely because of its size."

"That sort of damage?," Crosshairs asked, pointing at the screen. The Autobots looked up at the screen just in time to see the monster collide with the bridge, letting out a triumphant roar. Its thick, long and clawed forearms tore the bitumen to shreds; the suspension cables snapped, and the bridge buckled, unable to resist the amount of force being applied to it.

The Autobots watched anxiously, hoping that the monster would stop moving forward. But it didn't. It plowed through the bridge, paying no attention to the cars, people and trucks that were sent plummeting into the waters below. Like a mindless beast, it lumbered forward, shrugging off the bits of steel that collapsed against its frame.

Optimus clenched his fist. "Autobots, it appears as though humanity once again is in need of our help. Time to roll out"

"Affirmative, Prime," Ironhide replied. "Autobots, to the hanger!"

Optimus laid a hand on Topspin's shoulder as the Wrecker moved to follow Ironhide out of the control room.

"Topspin, I want you, Roadbuster and Leadfoot to remain here. While I doubt our services will be needed elsewhere while the monster is attacking San Francisco, it always helps to be prepared."

Topspin's shoulders slumped. After several weeks of boredom, he had been looking forward for the chance to give his wheels a good run. "If you say so, Optimus," he sighed.

"Thank you, Topspin," the Autobot leader replied, before transforming and driving towards the hanger exit.

"Wreckers, get your axles over here!" Topspin shouted. "We're on housekeeping duty."

~8~

1230 hrs

_'San Francisco is now a war zone … I have just received information telling me that the US Airforce is sending in jets to take the creature down … dear god, the creature just destroyed that F-22! It's a complete wreck, no chance of survival … the President has urged for citizens of San Francisco to evacuate as quickly as possible … the Autobots are en route and are expected to arrive in less than half an hour.'_ With these words, the world let out a small breath of relief. Everyone had seen the Autobots perform miracles; it was time to see if they could pull off another.

The flight to San Francisco was spent in silence as the Autobots listened to the endless news reports describing the monster's attack. It had now reached the mainland, and had cut a wide path of destruction through the city. Thousands had been evacuated, by thousands still remained in danger. All efforts to take down the beast had failed. Humanity was relying on the Autobots now.

"Prepare for drop in T-minus two minutes," the pilot announced.

"Ugh, finally," Sideswipe moaned. "I hate being in planes."

"Tell me about it," Wheeljack agree. "I'd much rather be in my lab." He paused. "I hope I remembered to turn my particle accelerator off before we left. I don't have the budget to do the experiment again."

"All you're worried about is your budget, Wheeljack?" Jazz piped up. "I'd be worried about the whole building going up!"

Wheeljack bristled. "Are you ever going to let that one incident go?"

"No," Sideswipe and Jazz said together.

"One minute to drop. Lowering the hatch." Right on queue, the back of the aircraft began lowering down, exposing the inside to the howling wind.

"Autobots, you're cleared for the drop."

Optimus accelerated forwards and drove out of the aircraft, transforming as he went. Once in robot mode, he pointed his face down, accelerating towards the ground. Glancing left and right, he saw his fellow Autobots performing similar manoeuvres. They fell freely for several seconds, before triggering parachutes to slow their descent. Once they were within a safe falling distance, the parachute cords were cut, and they fell briefly before landing safely on the ground.

"What a wreck," Jolt said distastefully, looking around.

They had landed on the edge of San Francisco Harbour, right in the middle of the path of destruction the creature had forged. Ahead of them plumes of smoke rose out of destroyed buildings, while rubble and other debris lay strewn across the roads. Parts of the city still burned, even hours after the attack, a three mile wide line of destruction and death painting the creature's path far too easily.

"Reminds me of Cybertron," Ironhide observed. "All the destruction... all the death."

"It's almost as bad as that, I'm afraid," Ratchet said sadly. "All of this was caused by one creature. On Cybertron, it would have meant that Trypticon had gone for a walk."

"Like he did at Tyger Pax," Arcee said. "I'll never forget that day." She shivered. "Trypticon... Megatron crushing Bumblebee's voice chip... thank Primus he's still with Sam."

Optimus wandered over to a crushed building. Shifting through the rubble, he soon found the bodies of a family. "'Till all are one," he murmured softly.

"What are we going to do, Optimus?" Hound asked. "We've rarely faced anything this big before."

"Attack the thing, of course," Drift said. "Anyone got ideas?"

"We could, uh, you know, retreat," Skids suggested hopefully, earning a look of utmost disgust from Elita One.

"Well, aiming for the legs would make the most logical sense," Wheeljack said. "Once its mobility is gone, it is a perfect target for any military bombardment. If I remember correctly from the news reports, its ankles and wrists appear to be the least heavily armored parts of its body, so we should aim for them if we can."

"Sounds like a plan," Sideswipe said. "But how am I going to navigate through all this rubble?" He looked down at his wheeled feet in dismay.

"You could try jumping. Yo' got good suspension, you'll be fine! Hey Mudflap, can you imagine Sideswipe jumping up and down like one of them kangaroos?" Skids started laughing.

Elita-One rolled her optics, transformed her hand into a gun, and shot Skids in the chest.

"Will you shut up?" she hissed. "Sometimes I wonder why Primus bothered making you two!"

"Hey now, I've got nothing to do with this," Mudflap said hurriedly. "That was all Skids' fault."

"I've changed my mind," Chromia stated. "I wish Bumblebee was here, if only to keep you two in line! Now shut it!"

Mirage snorted. "Look at us. We're facing one of the biggest enemies we've ever encountered, and all we can do is quibble!"

"Alright, alright, let's focus on the job at hand," Crosshairs said. "We have a three hundred foot monster a couple of miles ahead of us. Weakpoints are legs, ankles and wrists. Optimus, we need a battle plan now."

Several jets flew overhead, heading for the cloud of smoke that contained the monster. The sound of heavy machine gun fire was heard a second later, followed by a loud, horrible roar, before a small explosion blossomed in the distance.

Optimus stared off determinedly into the distance, before turning to face his fellow Autobots. "Mirage, Sideswipe, Drift, you three climb the creature's legs and cut the tendons in its knees. Hound, you and Ironhide concentrate your fire on the hip joints. Arcee, help Elita One and Chromia evacuate humans from the area. The rest of you, do whatever you need to do to bring that thing down. It must not get past San Francisco!"

"What about you, Prime?" Ironhide asked.

"I shall aim for the ankles," Optimus replied. "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A collaborative project between myself and a friend, this story has been on our minds since the first week of the year. We didn't start planning it in earnest until I actually saw Pacific Rim, but seriously, we have been planning every single detail of this story. Character bios, a timeline...you name it. The reason we need so much is because this story is going to span the entirety of the Kaiju War - all 12 years of it. It's going to be massive.
> 
> The story uses the Transformers Movieverse continuity (ie: Bayformers), but with a few crucial differences - Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction never happened. Instead, the Autobots were revealed to the world after the Decepticon attack on Mission City. So no spaceship on the moon, no sun harvester in the Great Pyramid. We are keeping the Autobots from the sequels though, as you probably realised. We're also borrowing bits and pieces from other TF continuities as well, specifically G1 and Aligned (the Cybertron games and the Prime cartoon).
> 
> Aside from that all, my friend and I strongly encourage feedback, especially constructive criticism. We want to make this story the best it can be, but we can only achieve that with your input. I'll also be going back and editing older chapters as we continue to revise them.


	2. The Tresspasser

**Chapter 2 - The Trespasser**

_'_ The Autobots drove slowly through the city, following the trail of destroyed buildings and roads. Clouds of dust, smoke and fog created a sense of impending doom, and the rubble, glass, concrete and bitumen strewn out across the ground only added to the atmosphere. No bodies could be seen, thankfully, but they all knew that a quick search through any one of the destroyed buildings would unearth a crushed corpse.

They continued driving, with only occasional jet flying overhead breaking the spell of silence. Eventually, though, they came across a wall of shattered concrete, forcing them to shift into robot mode to pass the obstruction. Once they cleared the wall though, they stopped, and looked up.

"Primus," Sideswipe breathed.

The Autobots had caught up with the creature, and were standing less than five hundred metres behind it. It had looked big on the news reports, but in real life, it was monstrous, towering above both them and the nearby buildings, its clawed hands cutting through concrete and steel with ease.

"It took half the Autobot army to bring Trypticon down," Arcee whispered fearfully. "I hope this thing will be a lot easier."

"My analysis suggests it will be," Ratchet observed. "This creature is organic, and our weapons should be strong enough to pierce its hide. Trypticon was -"

He was interrupted by another of the monster's terrible roars. A second later, one of its smaller arms lashed out and collided with yet another jet. A small explosion blossomed as the jet broke up, the debris flying through the air before landing some distance away.

"Idiots," Ironhide snorted. "That's the fifth jet I've seen destroyed that way so far. Don't they realise the dangers of flying so close to that thing?"

"They are desperate, Ironhide," Optimus replied. "Desperation drives all of us to commit acts we would not normally attempt to do."

"Well, then, we need to make sure they get un-desperate," Jazz chimed in."This giant monster looks like it wants a beating!"

"Then a beating it shall receive!" Optimus said firmly. "Autobots, take that monster down!"

With the scraping of metal, the Autobots transformed and sped towards their respective targets. Arcee, Chromia and Elita-One zoomed off to the sides to scour the debris for survivors, while Ratchet, Wheeljack, Crosshairs, Jolt and the Twins drove over towards a relatively undamaged building, transforming once again before starting to climb the structure. The rest of the Autobots closed in on the monster, but it quickly became apparent that there was a flaw in their planned method of attack.

"That thing's ankles are close to its knees," Mirage grumbled. "It's going to be hard to fight with four of us in the same spot."

"Split up, then," Drift said. "Two per leg."

"Excellent idea, Drift," Optimus said. "Mirage and I will tackle the left leg, you and Sideswipe take down the right."

Ironhide and Hound suddenly veered off from the rest of the group, skidding to a halt some three hundred and fifty metres away from the monster before transforming.

"We're going to stay here, Prime," Ironhide clarified. "These guns Wheeljack made need testing, and Hound wants to use some of his Penetrator Missiles."

"Okay, Ironhide. Target the monster's hip when I give the signal."

"Will do, Prime."

"Optimus, Jolt, Wheeljack, Crosshairs and I have taken up position on a building not to far from your position. Crosshairs has run off somewhere with the Twins, but the rest of us should be able to keep you informed of the bigger picture, and let you know how your efforts are going."

"Thank you, Ratchet. Make sure you get in touch with the humans and let them know that we are now engaging the monster."

"Jolt's just doing that now. He's trying to get their military to stop the jets from flying in."

"Excellent. Enough life has been lost today; we do not need any more to be thrown away so senselessly."

The gap between the Autobots and the monster was now less than a hundred metres, and the beast's shadow loomed over them. Just ahead, the monstrous, clawed foot was embedded deep in the bitumen, carving out a large crater.

"Wahey, watch out, you big sucker, here I come!" Jazz shouted as he drove right up to the monster's foot. Just as he was about to crash into the thick skin, he transformed to robot mode, fired his grappling hook onto a huge spike protruding from the creature's knee and used the momentum to swing himself up onto it.

"Optimus, the monster's noticed you," Ratchet warned. "I suggest you transform now."

He was right. The monster had felt Jazz crawl up onto his knee, and had turned around to see what the distraction was. Its eyes were now firmly fixed on the four vehicles that were speeding towards his feet.

"Autobots, prepare to transform...now!" Optimus commanded. As one, he, Mirage, Drift and Sideswipe initiated their transformations, jumping up and landing on the monster's foot. Wasting no time, Optimus, extended his energon blades, and stabbed it into the flesh of the beast, eliciting a roar of pain from the creature.

Optimus felt the skin move below him, and he realised that the foot had been raised. Evidently the monster was going to attempt to shake him and Mirage loose.

"Mirage!" he called. "Hold on!"

But he was too late; the foot began moving from side to side. While the action wasn't fast, the movement was nevertheless sufficient enough to knock the red Autobot from his position, and back on to the crushed bitumen below. Mirage barely had enough time to transform and reverse rapidly backwards before the foot came thudding down on the spot he had occupied seconds before.

Optimus looked to his right; Sideswipe and Drift had made their way up the leg to the creature's ankle and knee, and were in the process of plunging their weapons deep into the monster's hide.

"Ironhide, we are in position. Commence your strike now!" he ordered.

"Affirmative, Prime," Ironhide replied.

By now, Mirage had managed to jump onto the beast's foot again, but was making sure that his blades were providing ample grip. Satisfied that his friend was safe, Optimus began climbing up the limb towards the ankle.

"Incoming!" Hound shouted over the Autobots' communication channel, and a second later, a barrage of missiles collided with the monster, right on the hip joint. There was a loud explosion, and small pieces of shrapnel rained down on Optimus and his team, along with blobs of a strange, blue substance, which sizzled upon coming into contact with Optimus' frame.

Making a mental note to ask Ratchet to identify the blue substance once the battle was over, Optimus finally reached the creature's ankle, and stabbed his energon sword into the flesh, hard. A bellowing roar of agony followed immediately afterwards. The Autobots had wounded the beast, and it knew it.

Just above Optimus, Mirage's blades were covered in more of the blue substance, and Drift and Sideswipe had made deep gashes on the other leg. Jazz, on the other hand, was still waiting patiently on the monster's spiked knee, apparently waiting for something to happen. Optimus got his answer moments later, as one of the monster's larger arms loomed over him, preparing to crush him. Jazz immediately leapt into action, shooting the arm several times with his shield-gun in order to distract the beast.

"Hey now, don't go hurtin' my friends!" he shouted, grappling from the knee to the arm, "that's my job!" He ran up the arm towards the shoulder, ignoring the movement of the limb as it reacted to the sensation of the Autobot running across it. The second of the larger arms reached across to squash him, but he quickly grappled to the shoulder, then the head in quick succession.

Despite his task at hand, Optimus watched as his lieutenant slowly climbed on to the side of the monsters face and proceeded to shoot it in one of its many eyes. Another roar of pain, a furious shake of the head, and Jazz went flying, landing heavily on a nearby building. The creature turned triumphantly to finish off its prey, it's arms reaching out eagerly, before recoiling in pain.

Crosshairs was running as fast as he could towards Jazz, firing his guns directly at the monster's face, hitting it the mouth and eyes - anything to stop it from killing his friend. The creature growled angrily, raising one of its smaller arms to block Crosshairs' onslaught. The green Autobot soon reached Jazz, and hauled him over his shoulder before running off to safety.

A second barrage of missiles flew over Optimus' head, this time colliding with the other hip joint. As the second of the smaller arms moved down to asses the damage, Optimus saw two figures jump from a building to the arm; twin blurs of green and orange. Mudflap and Skids had finally decided to join the fight.

The creature had now well and truly forgotten Jazz, and was now entirely focused on ridding itself of the annoyances climbing all over it. It stamped and stomped, scratched its legs, but the Autobots were too good. Their blades and swords had penetrated deep into the monster's flesh, and no amount of rapid movement would dislodge them. When an arm loomed over them, the Autobots would quickly swing around to the other side of the leg and resume their attack, out of reach of the huge, clawed hands. But as much as they were enjoying success, Optimus knew their luck would not hold out forever. They needed to finish the job and kill the beast before they suffered any major injuries, or worse.

Determined to not let that version of events happen, Optimus moved his sword higher before transforming his other hand into his Ion Blaster. He opened fire, the gun causing the monster's flesh to sizzle, and the wound inflicted by his sword to deepen. More missiles from Hound and Ironhide collided with the monster as Optimus continued firing, burning his way through the monster's flesh.

A shout from above caught his attention, and he looked up to see the smaller of the creature's right arms fall limp. The Twins had somehow managed to tear most of the limb from the monster's torso, with only a few ribbons of skin connecting the two, and were now attempting to pull it off. Jumping from their perch on the beast's torso, they quickly grappled to the arm, and manoevered themselves until they were both dangling precariously from the hand. A few seconds later, their combined weight tore the limb completely from the creature's body. The monster let out a shriek of absolute agony as more of the blue substance spurted from its body, splashing all over the surrounding buildings and the bitumen below.

Gravity had now taken control of the arm, and it hurtled towards the ground. The Twins, however, quickly grappled to a nearby building for safety.

By now, the beast was in distress. The loss of its smaller arm had sent it into shock, and the immense pain from the wounds to its face, hips, knees and ankles made it delirious. Rasping out cries of agony, it began to move, stumbling through the surrounding buildings, destroying everything in its path.

"Hold on!" Optimus shouted, quickly deploying his second energon sword and stabbing it into the monster. None of them could afford to be dislodged now. "We're nearly there!"

With a shout of triumph, Drift cut through a tendon in the knee, crippling the monster further. It's right leg collapsed under the weight, nearly crushing Drift and Sideswipe in the process.

"Drift, Sideswipe, get out of there now!" Ratchet advised. "You've done all you can."

The two Autobots obeyed and jumped off the monster's leg, transforming and driving away to safety, leaving the monster collapsed on the ground behind them, unable to move.

With a note of grim satisfaction, Optimus realised that their job was done. The creature wouldn't be going anywhere, and it was only a matter of time before it died of blood loss or shock. All they needed to do now was to make its death as merciful as possible.

"Mirage," he called, "disengage. It's up to Ironhide and Hound how."

"Incoming!" Hound shouted, and another barrage of missiles went flying over Mirage and Optimus' heads as they drove away from the creature. The missiles struck the beast in the neck, sending it reeling backwards, a new hole created in its skin. Two plasma shells from Ironhide soon followed, deepening the wound by burning away the skin and flesh. Finally, Hound fired a final barrage of penetrator missiles, which gouged their way into the exposed flesh, before exploding with a mighty bang.

With a long, mournful moan, the creature staggered, clutching at the gaping hole in its neck. Its arms splayed wildy, crashing into the surrounding buildings, before it teetered forwards, and crashed onto the ground with a mighty thud. The impact shook the ground, and the resultant shockwave spread from the point of impact, shaking buildings, knocking the Autobots off their feet, sending a huge cloud of dust into the air.

Three hundred and fifty metres away, the Autobots got to their feet and surveyed the area. All visible buildings were damaged beyond recognition, the road was barely intact, and pools of the blue liquid had collected everywhere. But the centre of attention was, of course, the monster. It had taken a huge effort, but the fight was over. The Autobots had saved the day once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First Kaiju down, a lot more to come. Feedback on how easy/hard it was for the Autobots to take Trespasser down is welcomed.


	3. Rescue

**Chapter 3 - Rescue **

15 minutes previously

"Then a beating it shall receive!" Optimus said firmly. "Autobots, take that monster down!"

With the scraping of metal, the Autobots transformed and sped towards their respective targets. Arcee, Chromia and Elita-One veered off from the main group and headed for the piles of debris. They pulled up next to a collapsed building and transformed once again, scanning the dusty concrete with their optics.

"Okay, search and rescue mode...activated," Acree said. Her body began to shift, pieces rearranging themselves until the wheels she used for movement had become legs, and her optics turned yellow as she used infrared radiation to scan for life signs. Behind her, Chromia and Elita-One did the same. Their status as triple changers was only recent; Wheeljack had given them an additional alternate mode after they realised their wheeled, monopedal robot modes were awkward and cumbersome on the rough debris created by the Christchurch earthquake in 2011. As such, they now utilised their 'legs' mode to great effect in disaster zones.

"The humans were ordered to evacuate soon after the monster destroyed the bridge," Chromia said. "If we're lucky, we might not have to save anyone."

"If only…" Arcee muttered. She'd found that humans and Cybertronians were uncannily similar in their behaviour when presented with difficult situations: unpredictable. There were sure to be several people who hadn't evacuated for some reason or another, or someone who had come to rescue a loved one but ended up becoming trapped themselves.

They continued scanning as they crossed into the Chinatown district of the city. There were no signs of life, but the more personal effects of the monster's presence were all too obvious.

"I'm picking up heat signatures," Elita said, "but I'm not registering any heartbeat. I think they've gone offline."

"They stood no chance against their buildings falling in on them," Chromia said sadly. "They would have been dead before they knew what had happened."

"If they were lucky," Arcee added drily.

They continued searching in silence for several more minutes, all too aware of the raging battle behind them. The roars of the monster as their fellow Autobots attempted to take it down carried swiftly through the air, and Arcee couldn't quell the rising fear that the beast was getting closer. It had already damaged this part of San Francisco...if it was driven into the area again, there wouldn't be much to salvage.

"All clear," Elita said as once they reached the end of the street. "No functioning humans detected."

"Split up," Arcee decided. "Chromia, take the street on the right, Elita, you take the one on the left."

Both Autobots nodded, and they ran off down the rubble-strewn road. Arcee doubled back a short distance before heading down a side-street. Older, brick buildings lined the curb - what was left of them at least. Only a few of the houses had more than three floors, and there were even one or two that didn't have any. Arcee groaned. Bricks were a pain to sift through, especially since Optimus had forbidden any use of weapons to make the job easier after a particularly nasty incident in Christchurch. She quickly closed off and partitioned that particular memory; she had more important things to worry about, and couldn't afford any more distractions. She began walking down the street, her head moving slowly from side to side, scanning for any signs of human life.

"Got one!" Chromia shouted suddenly. "Pulse is faint, but she's functional!"

"Great!" Arcee said. "You know what to do; download -"

"Download the co-ordinates to the nearest hospital, drop the human off, come right back. If search complete, rendezvous with Optimus and the others," Chromia finished. "Come on, 'Cee, we've been doing this for years."

"She's just checking," Elita teased. "You know she's a sucker for the rules."

Arcee snorted. "Just get the subject to the hospital, will you?"

Chromia didn't reply, but a moment later, the sound of a motorbike engine kicked in, before slowly fading away as the blue Autobot sped to the nearest medical centre.

"Scrap!" Arcee cursed. "Forgot to ask if she picked up any more life signs."

"She would have mentioned it," Elita said idly. "She knows what her job is."

"I know, but still…"

"That was before she met Ironhide, as you very well know. He's put some sense into her, introduced her to seriousness."

"Yeah. Guess I should trust her to know what to do."

Elita's reply was drowned out by a terrible roar as several buildings a few blocks away collapsed under the weight of the creature. Arcee's optics narrowed. One of its smaller arms was missing. The work of Drift, no doubt. He was a master swordsman, and could cut through anything, no matter how big or thick.

Lowering the threshold of her audio receptors in an attempt to ignore the noises of the battle behind her, she continued scanning, until, suddenly, she picked up a signature - no, two signals.

"Elita, I've found two humans!" she said. "Strong pulses," she frowned, looking at the area where the lifesigns were emanating from. Bricks. More specifically, a pile of bricks. She sighed, "but they're buried under a scrapload of bricks. Probably some other building materials too, considering the damage. Might need your help getting them out."

"Roger that, be there in a few cycles."

Arcee didn't wait for her sister to arrive, instead digging into the pile of bricks, grabbing several in each hand and chucking them behind her. It was a slow process, given that she wasn't allowed to simply melt them, and it would be a mess to clean up later, but she needed to reach the humans before they died from suffocation, immense pressure, or any other injuries they might have sustained. They could have been trapped for hours for all she knew, but it was her responsibility that they didn't remain trapped for much longer.

Two more hands joined hers, and she looked up to see Elita by her side.

"Come on, dig," the purple Autobot said. "That thing's right behind us; if we don't get these two out soon, we're all going to be crushed."

"Scrap," Arcee muttered, raising her audio threshold back to normal. The sounds of battle were even louder than before, and one quick glance over her shoulder confirmed what Elita had said. They didn't have much time.

"Can we get on to Optimus? Ask him to lure it away?"

"Lure a thing like that? Good luck trying!" Elita laughed. Arcee recognised it as her nervous laugh, the one she used when she was under pressure. Elita was just as worried as she was.

Their combined efforts meant that the pile of bricks was quickly excavated, revealing one of the humans. He was young, in his early twenties, with styled black hair, and was wearing a uniform; the logo on the breast pocket showed that the man worked for one of San Francisco's ferry services.

"Hey," Arcee said kindly.

The man turned his head slowly to look at his rescuer. His eyes widened. "Autobots?" he said, almost reverently. "You're here?"

"Sure are," Elita grinned. "Arcee and I are doing the rounds while the rest get their hands dirty."

"I don't believe it," the man muttered. "Yeye, we're gonna get out of here! It's the Autobots!"

"Not so fast. You're still trapped under a lot of bricks -"

"And a few steel girders," the man winced, looking up at them. "They're pinning us both down, otherwise we would have dug our way out before now."

"Scrap," Arcee muttered. Moving girders would take time, time they didn't have, especially since they were now directly in the middle of the creature's shadow. There was no alternative. They'd have to use their weapons.

Elita noticed her hesitation, and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "We don't have any other option," she said. "What happened in Christchurch happened. Forget it. This is now."

Arcee just grimaced. "Close your eyes," she warned the young human as she transformed her hand in to a gun. The man looked at her confusedly for a second, but quickly clenched them shut as he realised what she was about to do.

Blam!

Arcee fired a shot into the rubble above the spot where the man's legs would be. Shrapnel flew everywhere, hitting both Cybertronians and the human.

Blam blam!

Two more shots was all it took, much to Arcee's relief, and she could see the man's legs, as well as the dull silver of several steel girders. But still no sign of the second human.

"The person you were talking to before - where are they?"

"At my feet," the man said, inclining his head. "He says -"

"He can see your feet," Elita interrupted. "Our audio receptors are much more sensitive than your ears," she explained, seeing the man's confused expression. "And we can understand Cantonese." She turned to Arcee. "We'll have to dig him out too."

"Scrap," Arcee moaned again, "mining laser it is." Her gun hand transformed into a short, stumpy appendage with a domed light at the end.

"Min - mining laser?" the man gulped. "Won't that, uh, cut my leg off?"

"Humans," Arcee scoffed, rolling her optics. With only a moment's fired the weapon, instantly disintegrating several bricks.

"Hey, what are you doing?" the man shouted, staring up at the Autobots in alarm.

"Getting you free," Elita explained, a slightly confused. What else would they be doing?

Arcee fired off a few more shots, making quick work of the remaining bricks, and revealing both humans in their entirety. The second one was much older, with a balding head. His face was kindly, but was currently filled with fear, no doubt due to the current situation. His legs were trapped by three big girders, and he wriggled in an attempt to free himself.

"Stay still," Arcee ordered, adjusting the laser. She wasn't going to simply vaporise the girders - that would allow yet more debris to fall on the trapped men. No, she was going to cut them in specific places, allowing the humans to worm their way out. Taking careful aim, she activated the laser, splitting the steel in two instantly. She slowly worked her way down the width of the girder, until the job was complete and it fell apart.

"Get out, slowly," she said, getting to work on the second one. A few moments later, both men were free. And just in time too. An extremely loud BANG echoed across the deserted streets, and a roar of pain followed shortly after.

"Scrap, we're getting out of here," Arcee said. "Now."

They didn't waste any time transforming, instead picking up the humans and bolting back down the alley.

"Uh...what're those?" the young man asked, pointing skyward.

Arcee looked up. Several black spots were dotting the sky - and they were getting bigger.

"Flesh from the monster," she realised, just as the first globules hit the ground, accompanied by long strands of a strange blue substance.

Arcee shuddered reflexively as some of the substance hit her frame, but she continued running as fast as her servo-motors would allow. "Stop wriggling," she hissed at the young man, who was rolling around under her am, trying to get into a better position.

"You're - ugh - squeezing me," the man replied.

"Humans," Arcee muttered again, but she did nothing until they exited the alley and moved on to a main street. In one deft movement, she transformed, drawing a shocked cry from the human before he opened his eyes to see he was riding on the seat of a pink motorbike. Behind him, the older man was riding in the same position on a purple bike.

"Did you just transform?" The young man asked, amazed. Despite the situation, he laughed. "That was so cool!"

Suddenly, the old man cried out, and reached up to wipe some of the blue substance off his shoulders, clearly disgusted.

"What's the matter?" Elita asked. "Is he hurt?" She twitched as she felt a sizzling sensation on her frame.

"No, he just got some of the blue stuff on him," the young man explained, glancing back at the old man and wrinkling his nose. "Gross."

"

Suddenly, the ground shuddered, and Arcee saw a huge cloud of dust and dirt shoot into the air behind them.

"What was that?" the young man asked worriedly.

"Hold on," Elita said, opening up a link to the Autobot Emergency Response Unit channel. The channel was designed as a way of letting the people of Earth know what the Autobots were doing during an Emergency Response mission, but it also came in handy for any Transformer wanting a situation update without having to contact someone else directly.

"This is the Ratchet, addressing anyone who may be listening to this frequency. I am pleased to report that we have successfully defeated the monster ravaging San Francisco, I repeat, the monster is dead."

"You guys did it!" the younger of the humans said, almost disbelievingly. "You took it down!"

"It's our job," Arcee said, with a hint of smugness.

"Just wish we could take part," Elita added forlornly.

"What do you mean? I thought all of you Autobots helped out," the younger human said. "I've seen you on TV - you work together."

Elita wobbled uncomfortably. "We do - and we are today. It's just, well, we're on the short side. We're only just seven feet tall. Optimus is thirty-two."

"Oh…" the man trailed off. "Must be hard."

Neither Autobot said anything out loud, but they both agreed with him. Even on Cybertron, their size had been a distinct disadvantage - most of the time. Sentinel Prime had been unwilling to let them fight it out with the bigger Decepticons, and had insisted that they be used for reconnaissance only. Optimus had been more flexible, but had still only limited them to supporting fire. Still, they had made excellent snipers, with their skills being so refined that even Silverbolt and the rest of the Aerialbots had often asked them for advice on how to get that headshot from 15 klicks.

"Arcee, Arcee!" A new comm. link was opened. It was Chromia. "Hospital's deserted, they've all evacuated, not that I blame them. I've tuned in to the emergency services - they've established an evac point a few klicks south at the Sequoia Hospital. I'm heading there with the human I found."

"Thanks, Chromia. We've got two humans with us, so we'll meet you there in a few cycles," Arcee responded, before cutting the link. "You get that, Elita?"

"Yeah," the purple Autobot replied. "Planning a route now."

"What's happening?" the young man asked.

"Hospital's been evacuated, so we're heading to another hospital further south," Arcee explained.

At this, the old man spoke for the first time. "Hospital?" he said. "Why we go to hospital?"

"You're hurt," Arcee said. "Both of your legs have small fractures, you both have minor scratches, and are going to have bruises by this time tomorrow. And I'm no CPU expert, but I'd say you're both suffering from a minor case of shock. I scanned both of you when you we transformed."

Neither man bothered replying. They couldn't argue against evidence like that.

The flow of conversation ended soon after, and they drove in silence for the rest of the journey. They made good time on the highway, but soon reached a traffic jam, forcing the Autobots to drive on the left lane, which was completely devoid of traffic. No one was surprised. Bu finally, after what seemed like forever, they finally reached the Sequoia Hospital. Cars filled up the parking spaces and lined the adjacent streets, and people were gathered outside the entrances, forming long lines. Tents had been erected in open spaces, and several hospital beds had been set up under them."

"There you are!" exclaimed a blue motorbike, skidding to a halt beside them as they pulled up at the curb. "Been waiting ages."

"We came as fast as we could, Chromia," Arcee said. "You could have gone back to Optimus if you wanted."

"They'll manage without us for a bit longer. Besides, you need to know where to go. Follow me."

She revved her engine and mounted the footpath, trundling slowly over to one of the vacant hospital beds. Arcee, Elita and the two humans followed her, hoping that no one would notice two people driving motorbikes in a medical environment.

A doctor was fiddling with his instruments as the Autobots and humans approached. Arcee used her horn to get his attention, and the doctor to nearly jumped out of his skin. Once he had recovered enough, he turned to see the men smiling awkwardly back at him, while the Autobots hung back behind them.

"Um, we'd like to get some treatment please," the younger man said.

"Erm, okay," the doctor said. "Who first?"

"Yeye, you go," the young man muttered, pushing his grandfather forward. The old man walked over to the bed and lay down.

"Just a full checkup, please," the grandson said. "We were under some rubble…" he glanced at the Autobots, "so we might have some fractions. And Yeye got some blue stuff from the monster on him."

The doctor nodded and got to work.

Sighing in relief, the young man walked a few steps away before turning to the Autobots.

"You guys saved us. I can't tell you how thankful I am."

"It's what we do," Arcee said dismissively. "No need to say thanks. After eons of war, the least we can do is save lives instead of take them."

"We'd better get back to Optimus and the others," Elita added. "Plenty of other things to do before we leave. Good luck with the hospital. Hope you guys get what you need."

The man nodded. "We will, even if it takes us days."

The Autobots revved their engines, but they paused before driving off.

"Don't think we've been introduced," Arcee said. "I'm Arcee, this is Elita-One. The blue one's Chromia."

"Tendo," the man said. "Tendo Choi."

"Nice to meet you, Tendo," Chromia said.

And with that, she, Elita and Arcee accelerated, driving away from the hospital and back to San Francisco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Twist number one: the Autobots saved Tendo Choi! Other than that, this chapter showcased what Arcee and her sisters do. While not properly equipped for engaging the Kaiju full on, their task of saving and evacuating survivors is equally important, and we wanted to really emphasise that they're just as good as the rest of the Autobots.


	4. Recuperation

**Chapter 4 - Recuperation**

By the time Arcee and her sisters had driven back to Chinatown, the cleanup effort was already well underway. The roads in and out of the city were filled with trucks, with the outbound vehicles filled with debris. This meant that the majority of the roads could be traversed easily; they only had to transform once to get past some rubble.

Army personnel littered the streets, either clearing them of bricks and other materials, or checking buildings for bodies to recover. It was a morbid job, and Arcee knew what it felt like. She’d recovered her share of human remains from disaster zones during her time on Earth, but it didn’t compare to the sheer amount of death she’d seen on Cybertron. She never wanted to experience something like that again. None of them did.

As they drove on, they occasionally came across one of their fellow Autobots helping the humans in their cleanup tasks. Ironhide was in vehicle mode as Sideswipe piled blocks of concrete onto him; Hound was standing over the Twins, making them do some work; and Jolt, Drift and Mirage were holding up the first floor of a partially collapsed building as army men and women searched the ground level and cleared it of debris. Optimus, Ratchet and Wheeljack would be wherever the monster was defeated, but Jazz and Crosshairs should be helping the humans. They could be working somewhere else, but there was always the possibility…

‘No,’ Arcee thought fiercely. ‘No one was terminated. Optimus would have told us.’

Thankfully, she was proven right several minutes later when they finally reached the area where the monster had been killed. The two Autobots were sitting under a building’s awning, and judging by Ratchet’s presence nearby, both had been injured. From what they could see, though, the injuries weren’t severe. In fact, they couldn’t see anything wrong with them at all.

“Ratchet’s probably being paranoid as usual,” Arcee said. “Can’t see any damage on them.”

“They might have suffered internal injuries,” Elita pointed out. “Broken energon lines, or a asynchronous transfer adapter put out of alignment.”

“Strongarm always used to have some trouble with that,” Chromia chuckled. “Red Alert got so annoyed that he eventually gave him a new one.”

“Wish Red Alert would swap your vocal processor with Bumblebee’s,” Arcee muttered quietly. “Never knowing when you’d be able to speak would do you good.”

Chromia was the youngest of her sisters, and held a highly optimistic opinion of the world. There was also the fact that she didn’t always take things seriously, and she never shut up. She’d improved a lot since she met Ironhide, but in Arcee’s opinion, it would be quite a while before she was tolerable. Maybe it was Chromia’s way of coping with the millions of years of horror she’d experienced, maybe not, but it really grinded her gears.

“Autobots?” asked a guard as the three two-wheelers approached the barriers that surrounded the area. “Your boss wants to see you.”

“Thanks,” Arcee muttered. They transformed and jumped over the barrier before speeding off towards the creature’s carcass, eliciting a soft ‘wow’ from the guard. The Autobots were world heroes, and their amazing ability to transform was well documented, but seeing it on television didn’t come close to the real deal. They were awesome!

The sisters soon found Optimus talking to a familiar person - Major William Lennox. They’d been told that Lennox had been the Captain of a group of soldiers who had worked with Optimus, Jazz, Ironhide, Ratchet and Bumblebee to defeat the Decepticons in Mission City, and had been promoted by the Secretary of Defence himself. For several years now, the Major had been the chief liaison between the Autobots and the Pentagon, and he had become a strong ally.

“The world’s oceanologists are confused about this whole mess, none of them have any idea where the thing came from,” Lennox was saying. “They’re saying it might be some sort of ancient creature that was frozen in the polar ice caps during the Ice Age, and only woke up due to global warming melting the ice caps. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

Optimus frowned. “I am sure that if a creature of such size once existed on your planet, evidence of its presence would have been found,” he said. “But I believe we may have the answer.”

Lennox was relieved. “Thank god. The Pentagon wants a full report, and I was starting to think I’d have to give them something that sounded like the plot for Ice Age Five. The media isn’t helping, either. God, this is going to be a mess.” He shook his head. “What’s your theory?”

“Ratchet detected unusual seismic activity deep beneath the Pacific Ocean several days before the creature emerged,” Optimus explained. “It stands to reason that the monster was the source of the disturbances. But why such a creature would be lurking in your planet’s depths, I do not know. Perhaps by analysing its remains, we can gain a greater understanding of its past and its behaviour.”

“Sounds better than anything I’ve heard so far,” Lennox nodded. “I’ve already got orders to move it. Don’t know how we’re going to do that, though. Probably cut it up.”

“If you need any assistance, Ratchet and Wheeljack will be on hand to help,” Optimus offered. “With your permission, I will also ask that you allow them to help your scientists analyse the creature’s remains.”

“No need to ask, Optimus. That’ll be fine.”

“Better clear it with your superiors first,” Arcee interrupted, zooming up beside Optimus. “They might not be happy with you making decisions for them.”

“Most of the government’s always happy for you guys to help,” Lennox said. “It’s the Pentagon you need to be worried about. The high-ups kept ordering the pilots to fly up close to the thing before you got here. Thought it would be more effective. Idiots.”

“We saw,” Elita said drily. “We weren’t impressed.”

“They were planning to nuke the monster too, if it wasn’t taken down after a few hours,” Lennox sighed, “and I’m not convinced they’d wait until you were clear.” He shook his head. “I dunno. After six years, you’d think they’d trust you.”

“Military organisations cannot afford to trust,” Optimus said sadly. “That is true no matter what the species. But rest assured, Major, your government can always rely on us to stand in defense of your people, not matter how great the threat.”

“I’ll pass the message along, but I don’t expect they’ll listen,” Lennox said, just as his earpiece beeped. “Excuse me, I’ll have to take this.”

With the conversation over, Optimus turned to Arcee and her sisters. “Arcee, how did your mission go?” he asked.

“Rescued three humans, evacuated them to hospital,” Arcee reported. “They should be fine.”

“On of the humans got some blue lubricant on him,” Elita said, “but it didn’t seem to bother him. It stung when I got some on my frame, though.”

“Probably just the monster’s blood,” Chromia cut in, shrugging. “It’s organic, so what else would it be?”

“Whilst you are probably correct, Chromia, it doesn’t hurt to check. I too felt a stinging sensation, and the others reported it as well. As a result, I gave a sample for Wheeljack to analyse.”

“You’ll be lucky if it doesn’t blow up,” Elita muttered quietly.

Privately, Arcee agreed. Wheeljack was as much a scientist as she was a Wrecker - nothing like one. If she wanted a scientist, she’d call Perceptor. Unfortunately, she hadn’t seen him since she left Cybertron, and wasn’t likely to see him again. For some reason, he’d chosen to stay behind on the dying planet along with a few others. Why he’d made that decision was a mystery that was unlikely to ever be solved.

“Ah, Prime,” Wheeljack called, noticing their approach. “No luck so far, I’m afraid. My inbuilt scanners aren’t built for this type of work. I need my equipment back at my lab, or at least some of the humans’ more advanced tools.”

Optimus frowned. “Have you asked Ratchet for help? I recall that he recently upgraded his scanners to better analyse organic components.”

“I did, but he said I’d have to wait. He’s using the opportunity to give Jazz a thorough medical checkup.”

“Now that I have to see,” Chromia said, grinning. “Where are they?”

“Over there somewhere,” Wheeljack replied, pointing vaguely behind him. “But I wouldn’t bother checking. You know what Ratchet’s like when he’s got a patient.”

“Crosshairs won’t let him get too serious,” Arcee said, as she and her sisters began rolling slowing in the direction Wheeljack had pointed. “We’ll tell Ratchet you’ve ordered him to stay and help.” she said to Optimus.

“Thank you, Arcee,” the Autobot leader said, and the sisters zoomed off. “Wheeljack, I also ask that you stay here and help the humans. They will need all the help you can get.”

“But I told you, I need my tools -”

“The Wreckers will bring your equipment when they land in a few hours’ time. In the meantime, I ask that you determine how best to transport the creature to a more viable location. The humans want it out of the way as soon as possible to allow the reconstruction process to begin.”

Wheeljack sighed. “I’ll go have a look and see how best to cut it up,” he said, and he plodded off towards the monster’s dead body. Even in death it dominated the landscape, with its body casting a large shadow over the surrounding area.

“Optimus, sir!”

Optimus looked down; an army officer was standing at his feet, a note of some sort in hand.

“Yes?” Optimus asked.

“The media’s wondering when you’re going to do your interview. They’re saying they can’t wait the usual thirty-six hours because it’s ‘too much in the public interest’,” the officer said.

“Tell the media that the rule still stands,” Optimus said. “It might even take a little longer before I have the time. I understand that the public wants to know exactly what happened, but for now, the biggest focus is the recovery effort. I shall let them know when I am ready.”

“Err, right. I’ll tell them no, for now. Thanks!” the officer said, before running off.

Optimus watched her go with a small tinge of annoyance. The Autobots were extremely popular with the media, and were roped into doing interviews with them after every mission - at the very least. In most cases, the media already knew most details about the disaster the Autobots had responded to, and just wanted an excuse to get an ‘exclusive’ report on whichever Autobot was trending at the time. Most of the Autobots despised the media and resented the interviews, but accepted them as part of the life on Earth. Optimus didn’t particularly like them either, but he recognised their importance in building trust between the two species. By sharing some details about life on Cybertron and the war with the Decepticons, he had demonstrated that he was willing to trust humanity with sensitive information. In return, the humans had allowed them to share their planet, trusting them with their infrastructure and resources. Though the media didn’t realise it, they had helped forge a great friendship between two species. It was Optimus’ intention that this friendship would only be strengthened over time as the Autobots responded to disasters of any kind, helping humanity wherever they could. Today had just been another example of that co-operation.

“Optimus,” Ironhide called over the comm. link. “Bumblebee’s just arrived; he’s heading your way.”

“Thank you Ironhide, I will meet with him shortly.”

After the events at Mission City, Bumblebee had decided to stay with the human boy, Sam. This had lead him to Chicago, where Sam now lived. The yellow Autobot had no doubt heard about the monster’s attack on San Francisco and rushed to help.

Sure enough, several minutes later, Bumblebee came zooming around the corner, before transforming, jumping over the barriers and landing on two feet in front of Optimus.

“Sorry I’m late, Optimus. I came as fast as I could,” the yellow Autobot said. “Is there any way I can help?

“Well met, Bumblebee. For the moment, I ask that you focus on helping the humans clean up.” Optimus said, giving Bumblebee a small smile. “There are still a lot of debris to clear of the roads. I imagine we will be here for quite some time.”

Bumblebee sighed, disappointed. He’d hoped to get back to Sam in Chicago as soon as possible. Nevertheless, he recognized the importance of the job, and it wasn’t like Sam couldn’t survive without him for a while. “Yes sir.”

He walked off, using his sensors to detect energon sources in order to locate his fellow Autobots. At least he’d be able to catch up with them. Life with Sam prevented him from seeing them regularly. Still, it was a minor cost, and he’d much rather protect the human boy than do anything else. But when duty called, he responded, just like today. Time to move some dirt!

 

* * *

 

After a week and a half of near-constant work, the cleanup effort was all but completed. The streets were cleared, and only a few buildings were left on the demolition list. The work had been sped up considerably by the arrival of the Wreckers, who had taken a great delight in blowing up buildings that had been damaged beyond repair. Under the watchful optics of Ratchet and Wheeljack, the creature’s remains had been cut up and moved to a research facility in the central United States. Most of it had been frozen for research purposes, but the rest had been incinerated; there simply hadn’t been enough storage space! The skull had been kept wholly intact, though, and was in stored while waiting to be installed in a memorial to the attack. Construction was set to begin construction in a few weeks, and the media was buzzing about its unveiling, but for the mean time, they had another ‘exclusive’ to feast on.

After days of holding the media at bay, Optimus had finally consented to an interview. But in typical media fashion, it wasn’t going to be a one-on-one. Instead, the company running the interview had conducted a lottery, allowing members of the public to attend the session. It was essentially a chat show - apart from the fact that it was open air and on location in the Presidio of San Francisco.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the host, David, boomed, “as I’m sure you all know, about a week and a half ago, we witnessed one of the most astounding events to have occurred in the twenty-first century so far. A giant monster emerged from beneath San Francisco Bay and attacked the city, destroying countless buildings and killing many people. Thankfully, with the help of the Autobots, the monster was quickly defeated. And now, ladies and gentlemen, in a television exclusive, I will speak live to the Autobot leader himself, who has graciously allowed us some of his limited time. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Optimus Prime!”

Cheers erupted from the crowd as spotlights swung to light up Optimus, who was standing patiently next to the raised platform the host was standing on.

“Optimus, it’s great to have you on.”

“My pleasure, David,” Optimus replied.

“Now, I’m sure that everyone here remembers their reaction to, um, what are they calling it, the Kaiju? The Kaiju’s emergence from San Francisco Bay. I know what mine was - my jaw hit the floor! But what was yours? Had you encountered anything like it before?”

“Cybertronians come in a variety of different shapes and sizes,” Optimus explained. “One of the largest Cybertronians to ever exist was a Decepticon by the name of Trypticon. His size is comparable to the creature we defeated. It took half the Autobot army to take him down, at the cost of many lives.”

“Wow,” … David softly. “But if it took half or your army to take down this Trypticon, why were you able to take on our monster and defeat it with so few of you?”

Optimus paused thoughtfully before replying. “We had the element of surprise. I do not believe it was expecting to encounter any resistance like us. Our agility and the effectiveness of our weapons were not something it was counting on.”

“True, true - but for two Autobots, speed and agility wasn’t enough, was it? Mirage nearly got crushed, and Jazz had a nasty fall. We all know that Jazz has been dead before, but what was your reaction when he landed on that building? Were you worried that you’d have to mourn for him again?”

“No,” Optimus said immediately. “We have all survived worse injuries. Jazz was not in immediate harm.”

“Even though the monster nearly crushed him?”

“Jazz and Crosshairs were partners on Cybertron - they always look out for each other. I trusted Crosshairs not to let his friend come to any harm.”

“Good for you...if only our government trusted us enough not to spy on us,” David said, rolling his eyes and eliciting a chorus of laughter from the audience. “Just joking, don’t worry!” he grinned. “Now, Optimus,” David continued, lowering his voice, making it softer. “Everyone here knows that the Autobots have been at war for millions of years. We know that, for the past six, you have found peace here on Earth. What was it like fighting once more? What were you feeling when you finally killed the monster?”

Here, Optimus paused again.

“I do not revel in fighting,” He started. “But the War has lingered in my mind for millions of years. I have known peace for the past five years, but so short a time cannot erase countless aeons of fighting. When this ‘Kaiju’ came, it was much like a return to the time of War. An opponent who sought to destroy us and our allies, to tear down what we had built up. I do not enjoy taking the life of another living being, but I will not deny the satisfaction of having defended our own.”

“Wow,” David said. “Wow. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the true wisdom of a leader.”

The audience clapped politely.

“Now,” David continued as the camera zoomed in on his face, “unfortunately, Optimus is still quite busy, and so we cannot continue this interview for much longer. But before we close: a rare opportunity. Before the show began, we asked members of the audience to submit questions they’d like Optimus Prime to answer. We’ve selected the ones we liked the most. First, from Fred: ‘Did you guys have any car races on Cybertron, and if so, what were they like?’”

“We had races, certainly,” Optimus replied, “but they were unofficial and mostly made up on the spot by Autobots who were bored on missions. I believe the Decepticons also participated in similar events, but I cannot give you any more detail than that.”

“Not to worry, I’m sure we all understand. But bored Autobots racing? I’m sure we can all relate to that!” David chuckled. “Next question from Jackie, and this is a weird one: ‘can you alter your robot modes so that you’re wearing clothes? I think Jazz would look hot in a tux!’ What do you say to that?”

Optimus frowned. This was exactly the type of question that made the media unpopular with the Autobots. “We can...imitate your human coverings,” he said. “I believe that Crosshairs has what you would call ‘glasses’ and a ‘coat’. But that is the extent of our abilities. If we were to mimic any human fabrics, they would be, and look like, parts of us.”

David smiled. “Well, I’m sure we’d all like to see you dressed up, but please, stay away from some areas of our fashion industry! Some things are not meant to be worn by giant metal robots! Now, the next question is from a lovely lady called Alison: ‘What was life like before the war?’ Well, I think that question’s been answered before...Optimus, would you like to reaffirm your answer?”

Optimus paused for a moment, just long enough to recall memories of older, happier times, before speaking again. “As I have said previously, the answer to that question has many answers. The war did not begin overnight, but slowly built up over millions of years. There is not enough time for me to explain in detail, but life on Cybertron before the start of the war was…best described as peaceful. Cybertron’s golden age was a time of exploration and friendship, but like all good things, eventually came to an end.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” David said. “But thank you for sharing!”

The crowd was subdued in its applause, respecting the fact that their insight into Cybertron’s past was a rare privilege. The Autobots didn’t like to discuss it, and the subject was rarely raised as a result.

“Now, for our final question...I think we’ve chosen the best for last: ‘could you please transform and roll out?’"

Optimus had already taken a few steps back from the platform in anticipation of the request - it was always asked at the end of an interview. This one he didn’t particularly mind.

Without saying a word, he initiated his transformation. The crowd gasped in amazement as pieces folded out and rearranged themselves into different shapes. They watched in awe as, where Optimus had stood only a few seconds ago, a long-nose truck was now parked, it’s red and blue colour scheme shining under the surrounding spotlights.

“No matter how many time we see it, it’s still amazing,” David shouted over the audience’s roars of approval. “That’s all from San Francisco tonight, but don’t forget the planned memorial service in December, to be attended by the President. More information on that as we hear it. But for now, goodbye!”

As the crowd applauded, the credits rolled and the cameras shut down, the citizens of the world finally began putting the attack behind them. They once again turned to the future, a bright and prosperous future filled with mankind’s success thanks to the Autobots. Little did they know that the San Francisco attack was to have consequences much greater than any had predicted. The battle had not been won - it was just getting started.


	5. Manila

**Chapter 5 - Manila**

"Gah, humans," Crosshairs muttered, jumping down off the service elevator before it finished descending. "Can't even go outside before they start criticising your looks. Apparently my coat isn't 'robotic' enough. I'm sick and tired of that talk, they've been going on about it ever since I got on this rock. Next human who says anything about my lovely trench coat's getting a blastin'."

"That's what you said last time," Drift said unconcernedly, not even bothering to look up from Teletraan's main console. "And the time before that, and a couple of weeks before that…"

It was February 2014, six months after the San Francisco attack, which was now all but forgotten. The city had been rebuilt, its inhabitants had moved back in, and the memorial was almost complete. Humanity had moved on, and the Autobots with them. Their disaster response activities had quickly resumed, and at present only Drift, Crosshairs, Sideswipe and Wheeljack were at the base; the rest were on various missions all over the world.

"If I keep sayin' it, it'll come true one day," Crosshairs shrugged. "If Optimus didn't have his 'no injuring humans' rule, then -"

"Then we'd be no better than the Decepticons," Drift said sharply.

Crosshairs laughed. "Like you can talk, _Deadlock_ ," he said, nudging Drift with his shoulder.

Drift's optics narrowed. "I turned from that path many cycles ago, Crosshairs. I chose the path of honour. Now, I think Teletraan's detected something." He pushed past the green Autobot and frowned at the hologram of the planet that was projected in the middle of the room.

' _Tropical storm detected. Projected path takes it through the Philippines. Action required_ ,' Teletraan declared.

Drift and Crosshairs glanced at each other.

"Oh no," Crosshairs said quickly, seeing the look on Drift's face. "You ain't getting me over there, not when the boss and a few others are in Indonesia. They can deal with it; by the time we get there, it'll be too late. No need for us to go wastin' our time."

"Judging by the strength of this storm, our help would not go amiss. It is one of the largest I've seen for a while," Drift pointed out.

Crosshairs sighed. "Just give the boss a call and see where he is. If he's left Indonesia, send him further north, if not, we'll all go. Happy?"

"Not particularly," Drift replied. "Teletraan, get me a link to Optimus Prime."

A few beeps and whirs later, a comm. channel had been opened.

"Drift, what's the matter?" The Autobot leader's voice boomed over Teletraan's speakers.

"Sensei, we have a tropical storm fast approaching the Philippines. It would take us too long to get there, so -"

"You are wondering if I and the others could make it time?" Optimus asked. "Hopefully. We departed Medan airport about an hour ago; we should be able to make a detour north. How fast is the storm moving?"

"Very rapidly," Drift replied, glancing at Teletraan's data. "You may just catch the end of the storm."

"Good, that will still allow us to conduct our usual recovery operations. I think myself and the others should be able to handle this. You, Crosshairs, Sideswipe and Wheeljack can remain at the base for the time being. If we need backup, I'll contact the Wreckers and Elita-One."

"Understood, Sensei. Drift out."

Teletraan terminated the link.

"Told ya so," Crosshairs said, a satisfied grin splattered on his face. "We don't have to budge an inch."

"Crosshairs sits still now, not liking to move at all, he's happy at home," Drift recited serenely.

Crosshairs rolled his optics. "That was the worst haiku thing I've ever heard you say."

"That's because I made it up on the spot. I usually rely on the humans to provide examples. They are much more artistic, with a taste for language that I shall never have."

"Whoa, hold it right there, Drifty! Any more and you'll end up going full Beachcomber on us!"

Drift frowned. "I don't believe I've met him…"

Crosshairs laughed and put an arm over Drift's shoulder. "Believe me, that's a good thing. He was crazy like you wouldn't believe."

"I think I could believe all right," Drift said innocently, casually glancing at Crosshairs.

"Me? Yeah, you got me there I suppose. I can be a little crazy."

* * *

Twelve kilometres above sea level, the pilots of the C-17 transporting the Autobots from Indonesia were settling in for the long flight back to the USA.

"I've said it before, and I've said it again," the pilot sighed. "But I don't see why we had to leave late in the day."

"Optimus doesn't like being away from Washington for too long," the co-pilot explained. "Probably worries about the ones he leaves in charge."

"That clever 'Bot, the techie, doesn't seem to bad. It's the pickup truck one - Ironhide - that I worry about. He looks like he could do some serious damage."

"They all could, dude. They're robots from outer space."

A green light began flashing on the instrument panel.

"Speaking of the Autobots," the pilot said, flicking a switch near a speaker grille. "Yes, Optimus, what's the matter?"

"I am afraid we will have to make a detour, pilot. Autobot Command has just informed me of a strong tropical storm in the Philippines. It is likely that we will be needed to speed up the recovery process," the Autobot leader said.

The pilot inwardly grimaced. Just what they needed, more time away from home. Out loud though, he said, "That shouldn't be a problem, sir, we'll change course right away."

"Hope the Liaison unit cleared a flight path," the co-pilot muttered as they both banked the aircraft slightly to the left before levelling out.

"We'll get it in a few minutes; this isn't the first time this sort of thing's happened. Disasters don't happen on schedule, you know."

"Sometimes I wish they did," replied the co-pilot as they flew the plane on into the dark night.

The next few hours passed without activity; the Autobots enjoying the chance to relax after several days of hard work in Indonesia. But before the very first rays of the sun had even begun to shimmer at the edge of the horizon, Optimus was roused out of his restful state by a comm. link call from Teletraan.

" _Alert, alert, Philippines situation critical. Large-scale Organic Lifeform similar to Organism: Axehead detected_ ," the computer intoned.

"Similar to Axehead? The creature in San Francisco?" Optimus asked, alarmed.

" _Affirmative._ "

A hundred questions whirred in Optimus' cognitive processors. Where had the creature come from? Why hadn't Teletraan detected it before now? Only one thing he did know: they had to reach the Philippines as soon as possible.

"Teletraan, send the coordinates to the pilots of this aircraft. Then, calculate how long it will take us to reach those coordinates."

" _Affirmative," Teletraan replied. "Coordinates sent. Flight time: calculating...calculation complete. Flight time remaining: one hour thirteen minutes._ "

Optimus inwardly groaned. The damage the creature could do in that time was unthinkable, and would most certainly be worse than in San Francisco. The first creature had been distracted by military jets before the Autobots arrived, allowing damage to be kept to a minimum, but here...would it even be worth it? It took the combined efforts of most of his Autobots to defeat the first creature, but this time they numbered only five. Even then, only he, Mirage and possibly Ratchet would stand any chance of giving the monster significant injuries. But would that be enough to take it down?

"Teletraan," Optimus said finally. "Let the Filipino government know that we will be unable to help for quite some time. I also think it likely that we will require backup once the immediate crisis is over; send a message to all Autobot teams directing them to the Philippines when their current missions are complete."

" _Affirmative, Optimus Prime,_ " Teletraan said, and terminated the link.

"Bad news?" Ratchet asked.

"You know me well, old friend," Optimus said, his truck mode emitting a sad creak. He broadened the range of his comm. channel, allowing Mirage, Arcee and Chromia to listen in as well. "Another monster similar to the one in San Francisco has been detected near Manila."

"What!" Arcee revved her engine in shock. " _Another_ one?"

"Of course," Mirage muttered gloomily. "There can never be one."

Ratchet was more reserved. "We're too far away…" he realised.

"Yes," Optimus confirmed, his voice tinged with regret. "Due to our distance from the city, we will be unable to reach the monster before it does considerable damage. As such, I have instructed Teletraan to alert the humans to this fact, allowing them to make any decisions they deem necessary."

"Something extreme, no doubt," Mirage said. "I won't be surprised if there's nothing left by the time we get there."

"I will be," Ratchet said amusedly. "Based on my analysis of the San Francisco monster's cadaver, only a large amount of focused energy would be able to damage the creature's skin. To destroy the beast completely would require nothing short of an extremely powerful nuclear device, one that would easily wipe out the city as well. I don't think the humans would be that desperate to use such a weapon."

"See, Mirage?" Chromia said. "No need to be so pessimistic about everything."

Mirage just grunted.

"Since we've decided that there will be a monster by the time we get there," Arcee said quickly, before Mirage think of a snarky retort. "What do you think the humans will do to stop it? Optimus?"

"Try and divert it away from the most heavily populated areas," the Autobot leader replied. "If that doesn't work, then they will most likely try and defeat it themselves - without us."

"Come on," Arcee scoffed. "They'll leave it for us, that's for sure. That's all humans do these days; if they know we're close, it's our responsibility."

"You're being a bit unfair, 'Cee," Chromia chided. "Most of the time we're too far away to be particularly helpful, like today."

"Only one way to find out, I suppose," Arcee huffed. "We wait."

And wait they did, somewhat impatiently, as the plane flew on into the early hours of the morning, heading north east as the first signs of dawn began to show. Now that their routine recovery mission had been turned on its head, the Autobots were restless. Arcee, Chromia and Mirage started their engines, revving them periodically, itching to get off the plane and see what they would be facing. Optimus and Ratchet were more reserved, though the others could tell that they were equally nervous with anticipation.

But then - for a split second - an exceptionally bright flash of light shone briefly through the cracks in the fuselage.

"Hey, did you guys see that?" the pilot asked over the aircraft's PA system. "Nearly bloody blinded me!"

"We saw it, Captain," Optimus replied. "Do you have any idea what may have caused it?"

"Well, it came from where we're headed; so a bomb, maybe? There is another Godzilla down there after all," the pilot answered. "Whatever the reason, I'm just glad you're the ones going down there, not me. You take the drop in about half an hour."

"That's too long," Arcee muttered as soon as the pilot turned off his microphone. "We should have been there before now."

Though no one said anything, they all privately agreed. Earth air transportation was too slow, even with the improvements that Wheeljack had made to their fleet of C-17s. All too often they wished they had access to their spaceship, the Xantium, which was currently stored in the Kennedy Space Centre. Unfortunately, that would not be the case today, and they'd have to wait for that half hour to pass, hoping to Primus that the humans hadn't resorted to using the only weapons Ratchet predicted would kill the monster - nuclear ones. But as the minutes ticked by with no further flashes of light, it became increasingly likely that they had.

Eventually, though, with the whir of machinery, the loading ramp of the plane began to lower.

"You're clear for the drop, Autobots," the pilot said. "Good luck."

All five Autobots revved their engines and drove out of the plane. A thick cloud layer masked the ground from view; the only remainder of the tropical storm that they had initially responded too. As one, they transformed, and quickly reached terminal velocity, contrails forming behind their limbs.

"Autobots, prepare to engage," Optimus ordered.

"If there's anything to engage," Mirage said.

"There will be," Chromia said, her optics narrowing with fierce determination. "There's got to be. Humans aren't that stupid or callous."

"Only one way to find out," Arcee said, as they plunged into the seething mass of condensed water vapour. There was zero visibility for a few moments, and then they were through, Manila's metropolis sprawling across the ground below.

"We've got landing beacons," Mirage said drily, noting the columns of smoke billowing up from the city.

"Is the creature active?" Optimus asked.

Mirage scanned the ground below, looking for any sign that the creature was alive. It didn't take him long to discover that it wasn't. The creature had left a zigzagging trail of destruction throughout Manila, ending where the bomb had created an ugly scar against the otherwise gleaming city - a large area encompassing the ruins of dozens of buildings, an area in which the monster's corpse lay, defeated.

"No," Mirage reported, somewhat satisfied. The humans had killed the creature, just as he had predicted.

There was a brief silence as the rest of the Autobots reacted to the news. Eventually, Optimus spoke once more.

"Thank you, Mirage," he said sadly. "It seems that fate was not with us today. But do not let this interrupt in our efforts to recover all survivors from the incident. We have a job to do."

And with that remark, the Autobot leader deployed his parachute, and the others quickly followed suit.

"Head for the creature's corpse," Ratchet instructed. "The humans with most need of medical attention will be closer to it and the epicentre of the explosion."

Steering their parachutes in the creature's direction, the Autobots could see humans crawling frantically over the rubble below, no doubt in an effort to see the extent of the damage, as well as confirmation that the monster was dead, and to discover if their friends or family were still alive.

"What they think they're doing?" Ratchet cried out in alarm. "The bomb used was almost certainly nuclear - the fallout will irradiate them!"

Arcee wasted no time, quickly amplifying her speakers. "Attention humans, this area is highly irradiated! I'd advise you get the scrap out of there before your health gets damaged any further!" she boomed in Filipino.

The humans on the ground looked up, startled, before pointing excitedly at the Autobots, recognising them.

"Yes, we're the Autobots!" Arcee growled. "Get out of the irradiated area now!"

It was clear that most of the humans had got the message; they were hurriedly scrambling back over the rubble away from the monster's body, beckoning for their friends to do the same.

Ratchet visibly relaxed.

"Although they can be stupid, you can't blame them for being worried about their friends," Chromia said. "We've done the same."

"I'd be happier if they took more care with their own safety," Ratchet said. "The situation here doesn't look good; we don't need more humans dropping dead on us."

"That's enough, Ratchet, we all understand," Optimus interrupted, before transforming his hands into energon hooks, cutting his parachute cords and falling the short distance to the ground. The other Autobots quickly joined him.

"Ugh," Arcee said, reverting back to English. "I'm going to have to shut off my olfactory sensors."

"Smelt worse," Mirage said. "The smelting pits in Kaon…" He shuddered, quickly dismissing the memory from his mind.

Optimus and Ratchet ignored the others' comments and focused on the creature. It was considerably smaller than the one in San Francisco, but looked equally intimidating, or it would have before it was bombed. All of its head and most of its neck was missing, presumably having been disintegrated by the bomb, but the rest of the body seemed relatively free of wounds, though it was evident that the decomposition process had already begun.

"It seems that we were lucky that only one bomb was needed," Optimus commented.

"Indeed," Ratchet agreed. "This one seems to be physically weaker than the one in San Francisco. Almost as if it was designed to be more agile." He frowned. "The smell would indicate that it is decomposing a lot faster as well. Axehead decayed rapidly for a creature of its size, but this was killed very recently. It shouldn't start decomposing for several days at the least."

"I'm just glad that they did kill it," Mirage pointed out. "Saved us from having to do our job."

"At the cost of thousands of innocent lives!" Arcee snapped. "We're going to be here for months sorting out this mess!"

"Then we should get started, shouldn't we?" Chromia said, shifting into her search and rescue mode. "Ratchet, where should we start looking?"

"Hmm…" the medic responded, scanning the surrounding area. "All life signs are more than one hundred and eighty metres from our position, under large amounts of rubble."

"In that case," Optimus said, "we will need to work quickly to get the injured humans to hospital. Arcee and Chromia, work with Ratchet to free the humans from the debris. Mirage and I will clear a path for Ratchet so he can drive them to the nearest medical facility."

"We're on it!" Chromia said, and she, Arcee and Ratchet ran swiftly over the rubble, heading towards the nearest life sign. "Scrap, she's two metres under."

"Hands or laser?" Arcee asked Ratchet.

"Laser," the Autobot medic advised. "We don't have enough time."

Arcee's right hand transformed into her mining laser, and a second later, the nearest lump of concrete was disintegrated. After a couple more bursts of energy, the first human was revealed.

"Primus," Arcee breathed. "She's critical."

"Third degree burns and damage from the rubble, not to mention radiation poisoning," Ratchet said as Chromia gingerly extracted the human from the debris and handed her to him. One side of the human's body had been scalded beyond belief; the skin along the right leg was completely burnt away, leaving the femur visible. Holding her in his right hand, Ratchet carefully transformed one of the fingers on his left hand into a small syringe and injected its contents into the woman.

"Still got some of them left?" Arcee asked. "Thought you ran out in Indonesia."

"I always carry spares," Ratchet explained. "Now let the nanobots do their job, just keep searching!"

Arcee and Chromia hurried over to the next lifesign, while Ratchet transformed into his vehicle mode, making sure the injured woman ended up on one of his in-built stretchers in the rear compartment. The nanobots would ensure she'd survive long enough to make it to hospital, preserving her vital organs and systems until proper medical attention could be received, so the least he could do was to make her comfortable.

All too quickly, the rear of Ratchet's vehicle mode was full, and the Autobot started his engine. "Prime, I've got a full load," he called over their comm. channel. Have you cleared a path?"

"Affirmative, Ratchet, you should be able to reach an open road quite easily," Optimus replied. "Head for the nearest hospital and ensure the humans get immediate treatment. Please ask the staff there to send emergency vehicles to help us transport the wounded as well."

"Yes, Prime," Ratchet said, and he drove smoothly away, driving through the path Optimus and Mirage had cleared before hitting the open road and rapidly accelerating away.

"This is going to be a long day," Mirage commented, watching Ratchet receding form.

"So it seems, Mirage," Optimus said somberly. 'Now, let's get to work."

* * *

Over the next few hours, the recovery effort began in earnest. Ratchet and Optimus, with the help of Filipino ambulances, ferried the injured to hospital. The rest of the Autobots worked to clear the rubble from the irradiated areas, but, with their all-clear, Filipino citizens began working to clear the rubble from buildings the creature had destroyed before being bombed. It was a morbid job for both parties, with dead bodies unearthed regularly amongst the severely injured survivors.

Hours turned into days, and soon trucks arrived to carry the rubble away; queuing up for miles in some areas. The Filipino army bolstered the recovery effort considerably, as did the arrival of Crosshairs, Sideswipe and Drift from Autobot Command. Very quickly, all hospitals in the greater Manila area were full to capacity, causing small medical facilities to be set up to accommodate those with relatively minor injuries. Unfortunately, the death toll from the disaster continued to rise, as radiation poisoning played its part, striking down thousands after the initial blast. The number succumbing to the condition was so severe that Ratchet began working on a treatment for it, hoping to make it easily synthesizable in time to save the majority of people who had received fatal doses. He was working against the clock, even with the patients injected with nanobots, but as the Autobots knew from millennia of experience, he was at his best when working under pressure.

Unfortunately, though, on this occasion, an effective treatment could not be developed quickly enough.

"It works, to an extent," Ratchet admitted to Optimus a couple of weeks later. "It delays the effects, giving the patient several more weeks to live. Beyond that though, it does nothing." He stared mournfully off into the distance, taking in the sight of Manila's damaged skyline.

"Great discoveries are not made in short amounts of time, old friend," Optimus said, placing a hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "You have given the humans more time with their loved ones. That is what counts the most."

"I should be able to save them," Ratchet replied sadly. "I'm a medic."

"Not everyone can be saved. You most of all should know that."

"Optimus, Ratchet!" William Lennox called out, approaching the two Autobots. He and several members of his Liaison Team had arrived in the Philippines with Sideswipe and co., and he'd quickly begun organising the human side of the recovery effort.

"I know, Prime, but that doesn't mean I'm happy with it," Ratchet said, as he and Optimus turned to face the Major.

Optimus gave Ratchet a comforting smile before addressing Lennox. "Yes, Major Lennox?" he asked.

"Just delivered your serum, Ratchet," Lennox said. "They were very relieved to finally have it."

Ratchet just grimaced.

"What news of the creature's excrement?" Optimus said quickly, noticing his friend's discomfort.

"Finally managed to get some local farmers to agree to use it on their farms," Lennox answered. "It was a lot harder than we thought it was going to be. Some of them thought it would bring luck bad luck to their farms."

"Human superstitions," Ratchet said distastefully. "The excrement contains high amounts of phosphorus and will make a good fertilizer for their organic crops."

"Well, at least that's one good thing to come out of this mess," Lennox muttered. "Billions of dollars in property destruction and other costs, a toxic, decaying monster in the middle of the city that they can't get rid of for another week, over thirty-thousand dead, thousands more injured….if only you guys could have arrived sooner."

"Fate was not with us on that day, Major," Optimus said. "And while this disaster is undoubtedly a blemish on our record, it highlights the necessity for us to have access to considerably faster methods of transportation."

"Did you ever invent teleportation?" Lennox asked hopefully.

Ratchet nodded. "At some point, yes. Several Seekers were equipped with a Transwarp device which enabled short range teleportation at the expense of using a fair amount of their energon reserves. None of us knew how they had the technology, but scientists on both sides had been attempting to replicate it, often without success."

"In any case," Optimus added. "We never utilised a teleportation system on a large scale. Spacebridge's were the Ancients' methods of transportation, but the technology was lost eons ago, meaning that during the War we relied only on road, rail, air and space travel."

"So you got nothing?" Lennox said.

"I seem to remember that Perceptor was interested in the old spacebridge technology, and had been working on recreating it for ground-use only," Ratchet said thoughtfully. "But he disappeared after an attack on his lab, along with all his research."

"Dammit," Lennox muttered. "If you can't help, can we? Is there anything we can do? Better planes? Faster warning systems? There's gotta be something!"

"Current human engineering can only do so much" Optimus said. "It is unlikely anything you build will be able to achieve the speeds we need for some time. However…," he continued, looking at Ratchet, "it may be possible to build something ourselves."

"Hmm...I suppose Jolt, Wheeljack and I could design something from scratch," Ratchet mused. "The energon farms have yielded a small surplus. If we dedicate that to a new project, start work now and continue uninterrupted, we could have a prototype design in a few weeks."

"I'm afraid that will have to wait, old friend," Optimus sighed. "We need you to stay here and take care of the wounded. I will ask Wheeljack to begin working on it in the meantime, but our priority is to help the Philippines recover as soon as possible."

"Is that even going to happen?" Lennox asked incredulously. "It's going to take years to clean up this mess completely, and then you've got the political side of things to deal with. The guy who ordered the monster to be nuked is in deep shit right now."

"Human politics do not concern us," Optimus said firmly. "Our duty is to the people, not the elite few who see fit to set themselves up above the rest."

"Makes a great change from the rest of the world," Lennox grumbled. "C'mon, the Wreckers and Elita are due in at the airport in an hour. We better rendezvous with them."


	6. Kaiceph

T’was in the town of Griffin; the year was Eighty-Three. It was there an old cow puncher stepped up and said to me...

The lyrics to the Johnny Cash song echoed out across the desert, interrupting the silence that otherwise permeated across the landscape. A silver pontiac solstice drove down the dirt road, churning up a dust cloud that covered the five other vehicles behind it.

“How do you do, young fellow, and how would you like to go,”  Jazz sang heartily, swaying in time with the song’s beat, ”and spend a pleasant summer, out in New Mexico?”

The red NASCAR racer driving behind him groaned.

“It will only be pleasant if you stop singing,” Leadfoot said. “Please stop.”

“We’re nearly there,” Jolt interrupted tiredly. “Let him keep going.”

Jazz dutifully obliged. “I’ll furnish you good wages, your transportation too;

if you will but go with me, one summer season through…”

“Why’d ya say that, Jolt?” Leadfoot asked crossly. “It’s all right for you, down at the back. I’m right behind the bugger!”

“He’s bored,” Jolt replied. “None of us are used to using our wheels for long distance travel.”

“...then I’ll furnish you no horses, from the hills of Mexico…”

“He’s been singing since we crossed the border!” Roadbuster cried. “You can nae call that bored!”

“Oh, for crying out loud!” a female voice called over their comm. link. “If you’re sick of him singing, turn your ears off!”

“Hpmh,” said Leadfoot, before he and Roadbuster promptly did just that.

Jazz immediately stopped his singing. “Thanks for getting them two to shut up,” he said smugly. “They always try and ruin the fun.”

“The only fun you get is by driving your friends insane,” the voice pointed out. “So...you going to start singing again?”

“Heheh, nope,” Jazz laughed. “I was just waiting until they turned their auditory sensors off.”

The voice sighed. “Damn, Jazz, am I ever going to not play right into your hands?”

“Not a chance, Courtney, not a chance…”

Back In the truck behind Topspin, Lieutenant Courtney Gallant laughed. “One day, Jazz, one day. Now, get serious; we’re almost at the Farm.”

Energon Farms were the source of the Autobot’s fuel on Earth. In the year after they had first arrived on Earth, the United States Government had agreed to allow one such farm to be constructed in Nevada, several miles from the town of Jasper. The farm, encompassing a diameter of ten kilometres, had provided enough energon for the initial number of Autobots and their related activities. Now, however, as the people of Earth slowly began to appreciate energon’s value as an alternative fuel source, and the Autobot’s own need of it began to increase, the Government saw reason to allow the Autobots to construct a second farm, providing that some of the energon it supplied would available for human use. That’s where Jolt, the Wreckers, Jazz were headed - to the construction site in the New Mexican part of the Chihuahuan Desert. Courtney was transporting the farm’s seed, a piece of crystalline energon that, once planted, would eventually grow out across the farm’s area.

They drove on in silence for several more minutes, before the Farm’s perimeter wall came into view. As they approached, an entrance formed in the wall, allowing them entry to the main site. Jolt scanned the surrounding area as they drove through, noting the energon canisters clustered together at the base of the wall, ensuring the wall had a steady energy supply to continue its slow growth to its maximum size. Everything was proceeding according to schedule.

In the distance, the foundations of the central refinery tower could be made out, shimmering in the desert heat. It was there that the convoy was headed.

By the time they reached the base of the tower, however, it was already bustling with activity. Piles of cybermatter were littered everywhere, a large podium was being set up, and media crews had taken positions nearby, chatting to each other as they waited for the main event - the seeding of the farm.

Normally, Jolt and the other Autobots would have prefered to build the farm discreetly, out of the human spotlight. But, as they had learnt over the past few years, humans, especially their media, loved the Autobots and followed them everywhere, documenting their every move. It was impossible to start the farm without a media presence, so the Liaison Team had embraced it, making the seeding of the farm a large media event.

“Alright, guys, get ready for a media scrum,” Courtney muttered as they drew close to the crowd.

“Is that a bad thing?” Jazz laughed.

“Only for everyone other than you,” Courtney pointed out. “We all know how much you love attention.”

“Lucky for the rest of you fusspots then, isn’t it?” Jazz reasoned. “I hog the spotlight while the rest of you hog the shadows.”

“Speaking of which, better get the Wreckers’ attention before we arrive,” Courtney said.

“Let me take care of that,” Jazz replied, and he promptly braked hard, allowing Leadfoot to ram into him.

“What d’you you think you’re doing?” Leadfoot shouted, honking his horn in anger. “That hurt!”

“It’s his way of saying we’re here,” Jolt said wearily.

“Well?” Roadbuster said. “We’re waiting for an answer, laddie!”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Courtney muttered as the truck she was riding in pulled up before it could crash into Topspin. “You’re all stupider than you look.” Sighing, she undid her seatbelt and opened the door, stepping out of the truck. “Thanks for the ride, Teletraan,” she said, before closing the door and walking over to the two men waiting for her amongst the ocean of journalists. “Major Lennox,” she saluted.

Lennox sighed. “You know we’re all on first-name terms here, right, Courtney?” he asked. “We’ve known each other for...five years now? Come on.”

“Yessir...Major,” Courtney teased.

Lennox rubbed his forehead. He couldn’t recall an occasion where Courtney hadn’t referred to him as ‘Major’ - it was one of her idiosyncrasies that got on his nerves. As he’d tried to emphasise, the Liaison Team wasn’t the military; they could call each other whatever they wanted. With another sigh, he changed the subject. “You’re late,” he noted. “Epps and I were getting worried.”

“We were travelling with Jazz and the Wreckers,” Courtney pointed out. “You know what they’re like.”

“That we do,” Sergeant Robert Epps agreed, shaking his head at the display behind Courtney. The Autobots had transformed, and Jazz, Roadbuster and Leadfoot appeared to be engaged in a heated argument, while Jolt and Topspin watched exasperatedly from the side.

“Huh?” Courtney asked, turning her head. She rolled her eyes. “Let them fight, they’ve been driving for over a day straight. Release their pent up energy.”

Lennox shook his head. “If they carry on much longer, they’ll end up squashing someone. Look.”

Courtney turned round again; the media crews had noticed the fight and had eagerly gathered close to the Autobots to film them. Lennox was right, though, there were a couple of near misses, and it was only a matter of time before someone was hurt. “Idiots,” she snorted.

“Come on, let’s go sort them out,” Epps said, and he strolled over to the media scrum and began gesturing for them to move.

“Tell Jolt and Jazz to meet me over at the podium,” Lennox. “Let’s just get this thing over and done with as quickly as possible.”

Courtney nodded before running over to the Autobots. Breaking up giant robot fights was never an easy thing.

 

Twenty minutes later, the media had calmed down from the excitement of the fight, and had taken their seats in front of the podium, behind which Jazz, Jolt and Lennox stood. Lennox glanced down at his notes before clearing his throat and stepping forwards.

“Hello? Everyone, your attention please,” Lennox said, tapping the microphone. Heads turned, the chattering ceased, and cameras were pointed in his direction. “As the senior member of the Human-Autobot Liaison Team, I thank you all for coming here today. As you know, over the past half-decade, we have created a strong friendship with the Autobots. It is my pleasure to today officially unveil the latest fruit of this friendship: a second Energon Farm. This will supply both the Autobots and several scientific institutions worldwide with a fresh source of Energon, allowing many new scientific endeavours to be undertaken.” He paused and glanced behind him. Jolt nodded. “I’d now like to introduce the Autobot engineer, Jolt, who will give you a rundown on how the farm will operate.”

Lennox stepped back from the microphone, while Jolt adjusted the output of his vocal processors.

“Well, the farm itself is quite simple, truthfully,” the Autobot explained. “Energon crystals spread sideways until they reach the Cybermatter walls, then grow upwards when they can’t spread anymore. We use a number of drones to harvest the taller crystals, bringing them to the central tower for purification and storage. Most of what we harvest gets put back into the farm itself, speeding the construction of the infrastructure in the farms, and the growth of the Energon itself. The rest we use for our own purposes, or in this case, is also given to your scientific establishments for study.”

Several journalists immediately raised their hands, spewing forth questions.

“One - one at a time, please,” Lennox said quickly. “There’ll be time for everyone.”

The babble ceased and all hands save one were lowered.

“Erm, Mister Jolt,” a young reporter asked, “Will highly advanced weapons be built into the farm, like the one in Nevada? How do we know you won’t use them to attack us?”

“I’ll take this one, if you don’t mind,” Lennox said hurriedly, interceding before Jolt could reply. “All construction plans were vetoed by the White House,” he explained. “They don’t have any problem with it, so neither should anyone. Yes, the farm will have defences, but that’s all they are. If there’s anything these guys have learnt after millennia of war, it’s that you never leave anything undefended.”

“And just in case you forgot,” added Jazz, “We’re out in the middle of nowhere, here. Nothing’s gonna hit anything”

“I think that settles it,” Lennox said. “Next question please.”

“Yes, ah, you’ve probably heard a lot about environmental safety while you’ve been on Earth…” a second reporter said. “How do we know that the Energon Farm won’t have adverse effects on the environment?”

Jolt shrugged. “Energon’s inert, not radioactive, releases no contaminants, and grows in a predictable manner. The chances of it disrupting nearby ecosystems are so close to zero it isn’t worth considering.”

“But in case something did go wrong...is that why built it here, in New Mexico?”

“That’s part of the reason, yes. This site was chosen for its remoteness; no unwanted human interference, and in the essentially impossible event of an emergency, everything is contained to this area.”

As third reporter asked their question, Jazz’s internal comm. unit beeped - Teletraan was trying to contact him. Hoping it was nothing serious, he opened a link. “What’s up, Teletraan?”

“Alert, large-scale Organic Lifeform similar to Organism: Axehead and Organism: Philippine Kaiju detected,” the computer intoned. “Target detected in Ocean: Pacific, and is moving Direction: North-East, towards Location: the American Continents.”

“Another one of those dirty monsters?” Jazz said incredulously. “Teletraan, have you contacted Prime?”

“Affirmative,” Teletraan replied. “Optimus Prime will be enroute to predicted landfall co-ordinates shortly.”

“Tell him that I’ll meet him there. No way I’m missing out on this one!”

“Affirmative,” Teletraan said, and terminated the link.

Armed with this new information, Jazz was left in an awkward situation: how to slip away unnoticed from a large media event? He scanned the area, searching for ideas. Blow something up? Too stupid, and they’d see him do it. Nonchalantly walk away? Everyone would ask questions. But then he glanced over at the Wreckers, who were standing beside the journalists, obviously bored. He smiled and opened a private comm. channel to Leadfoot.

“Oi, Leadfoot,” he called. “Do me a favour and hit Roadbuster!”

“What?”

“You heard me, hit Roadbuster, I need a distraction.”

“You bored of this thing too, or you got another reason that you don’t want to tell me?”

Jazz sighed. “Teletraan’s picked up another of those giant creatures, and I’m going to help, but I need to get out of here without everyone noticing,” he explained. “Now will you hit him?”

Leadfoot punched Roadbuster.

“Hey, what do yer think yer doin’?” Roadbuster demanded. “Wasn’t one fight enough fer you? You got another one then!” He launched himself at his teammate, tackling him to the ground. The media crews noticed this and immediately turned their cameras to film the second fight of the day, giving Jazz the opportunity he needed. Grinning to himself, he quickly backed away from the podium.

“Where are you going?” a familiar voice asked from behind him.

Wincing, Jazz turned. Courtney was standing there, eyebrows raised and arms folded. “You’re not trying to sneak away, are you?” she said. “Oh, come on,” she laughed, noticing Jazz’s guilty expression. “Leadfoot hitting Roadbuster for no reason? I knew something had to be going on. Spill.”   

“I told Teletraan I’d meet up with Prime on the West Coast,” Jazz explained. “Teletraan’s detected another of those big scary monsters. Don’t want to miss out this time.”

“What!” Courtney hissed. “Another one? Damn…” She rubbed her temples, feeling quite faint. She looked up at Jazz. “You better go then,” she told him. “Optimus will need all the help he can get. Go, I’ll cover for you.”

“Thanks Courtney,” Jazz said gratefully, and he turned and began running away from the tower, transforming as he went, churning up a cloud of dust behind him. He only hoped he could reach the coast in time…

For hours he drove on, ignoring every speed limit, every speed camera, and every police car. Only once was he forced to slow down - as he transformed and jumped over a police barricade. Needless to say, he wasn’t hindered after that. Teletraan kept him up to date as he continued on his journey, and eventually managed to narrow down the creature’s projected path to the Mexican city of Cabo San Lucas just as Jazz crossed the border into Arizona. The Autobot immediately turned south, heading towards the border.

 

The Autobots have urged residents of Cabo San Lucas to begin evacuating after their systems detected yet another giant monster in the depths of the Pacific Ocean.Lieutenant Courtney Gallant of the Human-Autobot Liaison Team confirmed that the Autobots were already en route to meet the threat.

“As soon as Teletraan detected the monster, the Autobots were alerted,” Courtney’s voice explained. “Most of them are moving towards the location where the monster is predicted to make landfall as I speak.”

“Is that why Jazz left during the Wreckers’ fight?” a journalist asked.

“Yes, he left to help fight the monster. Now, if you’ll excuse me, we’ve got an energon seed to plant.”

That was Lieutenant Courtney Gallant speaking from the opening of the second Energon Farm in New Mexico earlier today. In related news: should the Autobots intervene in political affairs? With the crises in the Middle East and the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine, many have questioned why -

Wheeljack turned his radio off. “Well, we know Jazz is definitely on his way,” he said, staring out across the ocean. He, along with Sideswipe, Crosshairs, Hound and the Twins were in Cabo, having immediately flown there from Washington once Teletraan had detected the monster. After a four and a half hour flight in one of the newly-built planes that he, Ratchet and Jolt had designed, they had arrived - and had been waiting at the beach ever since.

“At this rate, he’ll be here before the monster is,” Hound commented, scooping up a pile of sand and letting it run through his fingers.

“So much for urgent,” Crosshairs scoffed. “We’ve been out in the sea breeze for hours - I can feel my paint oxidising by the second.”

“Quit your whining,” Hound huffed. “Sometime you sound like those two idiots.” He nodded to his right, where the Twins were parked peacefully in their altmodes. It was a welcome change from their near-constant bickering.

“I suppose I do,” Crosshairs shrugged. “But that’s better than being a silent type. Topspin, for example. Never says a thing. Don’t know anything about him other than his name, and even then I’m not sure about that!”

“At least he doesn’t talk as much as Kup,” Hound muttered.

Wheeljack shook his head and glanced up at Sideswipe, who was sitting on the grassy knoll behind the beach, scanning the ocean. Sideswipe had refused to join them on the beach itself, saying that the sand would make its way into his feet. A fair assessment, Wheeljack thought, considering his feet were wheels.

“Seen anything, Sideswipe?” the Autobot scientist asked.

“Not a thing,” Sideswipe sighed. “Just this water stuff.”

“Teletraan said he’d let us know when the creature was a couple o’ kliks out, didn’t he?” Hound said. “It’ll rock up soon. And when he does, we’ll make him wish he hadn’t!”

“How about no?” Crosshairs suggested. “How about we just run away and wait for Prime to take care of it? Once he busts out the big guns, the monster ain’t got a hope.”

“How about we do what boss man ordered, and hold the monster off until he arrives?” Hound countered. “You got a problem with that?”

“Actually,” Wheeljack interrupted, “Crosshairs’ plan does sound pretty good. I mean,” he added quickly as Sideswipe and Hound glared at him. “I did come along just for the chance to study this creature while it was alive...and before it decomposes so much it’s useless. I’m not sure I’d be that useful in a fight.”

Sideswipe considered. “Go and wait somewhere else, then,” he said kindly. “Make sure you can see it though. Wouldn’t want you to miss your opportunity to study it.”

Wheeljack nodded, and began walking away from the beach.

“Hey, Skids, Jackie’s all scared of da monster,” Mudflap sniggered, his altmode shaking slightly. “He’s afraid he might get squashed.”

“Let him get squashed then,” Skids replied. “But that’d never happen to us; we’re too skilled.”

“We’re like ninjas,” Mudflap agreed. “Using them ninja skills to take the big bad guy down.”

Wheeljack rolled his optics before transforming and driving off.

“Yeah, let me know too,” Crosshairs began, pushing himself off the ground, only for Hound to force him back down. “Or not.”

“I got my eye on you,” Hound growled. “Stay put.”

“Hmph. May as well get comfortable, then,” Crosshairs reasoned, and he lay back and put his hands behind his head, basking in the sunlight.

Hound grunted and began pacing backwards and forwards down the beach, keeping the green Autobot in his view at all times. He kept this up for several minutes before Sideswipe suddenly cried out in alarm.

“Scrap,” he said, pushing himself to his feet. “It’s here.”

Hound and Crosshairs looked out across the ocean - there was some disturbance out on the horizon; a dark shape was rising out of the water.

Hound broke out in a broad grin. “Haha, yeah,” he said happily, reaching behind his back and detaching his minigun. “Time to kick some ass.”

“Now we talking,” Skids said as he and his brother transformed. “You ready to ready to teach the big scary monster a lesson?” he asked.

“Never mess with the Twins!” Mudflap replied, and the two bumped their oversized fists.

“Ah well, it had to get here eventually,” Crosshairs said tiredly as the creature let out a terrifying roar. “Better late than never.”

Right on cue, Teletraan opened a comm. link with them all.

‘Alert, alert,’ he warned, ‘Organism: Kaiju Three has emerged from ocean off the coast of Location: Cabo San Lucas. Urgent action required.’

“Computers: always a second too slow,” Crosshairs muttered.

“Alright, stop complaining and get over here,” Sideswipe ordered. “We need a plan of attack, because let’s face it, we’re not going to hold it off for very long.”

“Pop a cap in its ass,” Skids suggested immediately.

Sideswipe ignored him. “Crosshairs, d’you reckon you could snipe the eyes from here?”

“Is that even a question?” Crosshairs laughed. “Course I can.”

“Right, position yourself and get ready. Hound, you got any of those penetrator missiles left?”

“I gotta couple,” Hound replied. “‘Bout twenty or so.”

“Excellent, use them to encourage him to stay off the coast after ‘Hairs blinds him.”

“You all scared,” Mudflap piped up. “You just don’ wanna fight the big monster up close.”

“Oh, we will if we have to,” Sideswipe said. He grinned slyly. “Since you two seem so eager, you can have the first go if he does manage to make it to the coast before Optimus arrives.”

Mudflap and Skids glanced at each other.

“He volunteers first!” Skids said a second later, pointing at his brother. “He’ll use his ninja skills to take it down.”

“Yeah, I’ll sneak up on it, climb on its head and -”

“I don’t care who goes first,” Sideswipe said, cutting Mudflap off. “Just make sure you do it.”

“Uh, guys...it’s getting close,” Hound  pointed out. The creature was considerably closer, and most of its body and risen above the water, revealing a dual horned head attached to a sickeningly grey body, with a long, thick tail.

“Crosshairs, you got a clear shot?” Sideswipe asked.

“Give me a moment,” the green Autobot said. He was standing ankle-deep in the ocean, his right arm transformed into a gun resembling a sniper rifle. “Almost...there.” He let off a shot.

A few seconds later, a loud, agonising roar echoed across the landscape. Crosshairs had found his mark.

“Come on you big ugly thing, turn around...gotcha!” He shot again and smiled in satisfaction as the creature howled in agony.

“Woah,” Mudflap said, staring up in awe at the monster as it began thrashing around in the water, sending large waves out in every direction, “that’s one big motherf-”

The creature roared.

“Hound!” Sideswipe called.

“On it!” the bulky Autobot replied. He quickly transformed and opened up a section of his roof, revealing several lethal looking missiles. “Take this, you son of a bitch,” he growled, and fired. Three penetrator missiles flew briefly through the air before finding their mark, burrowing deep into the monster’s abdomen before exploding.

“Did it work?” Hound asked.

“If you count howling in pain, then yes,” Crosshairs replied, retracting his gun. “I think we’ve made it clear what happens if he decides to get closer.”

While Sideswipe, Crosshairs and Hound congratulated each other on their efforts, the Twins were standing on the beach, taunting the monster as it writhed in pain, clawing at its face in a desperate attempt to restore its vision.

“Not so scary now, are you?” Skids jeered. “Not after Crosshairs busted yo’ eyes!”

“Autobots beat giant ugly monsters!” Mudflap chanted, before a comm. channel was opened.

“Um,” Wheeljack said rather worriedly, “I’m not an organics expert, but judging by its behaviour, I think you’ve made it angry…”

Sideswipe, Hound and Crosshairs whirled around. Wheeljack was right. While the creature was undoubtedly experiencing immense pain, it was also thrashing about in the water in a manner that suggested fury was the dominant emotion. It also seemed to be growing larger...

“Scrap,” Hound moaned, realising that it was heading towards the shore.

“Move!” Sideswipe cried, and he quickly skidded out of the way; Hound and Crosshairs close behind him.

The Twins, on the other hand, remained on the beach, defiantly standing the ground as the thrashing monster came ever closer.

“No you don’t!” Skids shouted up with it. “No way you’re setting foot on this beach!”

“Yeah, you ain’t getting past the Twins!” Mudflap agreed.

But their cries had little impact, and the monster began to stumble onto the beach anyway, its hooves leaving deep impressions in the wet sand.

“Mudflap, Skids, get out of there!” crackled Sideswipe’s voice over their comm. links. “We need Hound to fire another round of missiles to get it off the coast!”

“We don’t need no missiles,” Skids muttered, ignoring Sideswipe’s frantic calls for them to retreat. “Ready to show them how it’s done?” he asked his brother.

“Time to pop a cap in this thing’s ass,” Mudflap cheered, and he fired a grappling line from his wrist, which wound itself around one of the creature’s demon-like horns. “Yeah, we takin’ this thing down!” he shouted as he was pulled upwards.

“Not without me you aren’t!” Skids said, and a few moments he had joined his brother, balancing precariously on the section of thick, hardened skin. At that moment, however, the creature jerked, and the grapple slipped. The movement knocked Skids on his back, and he began sliding off the horn.

“I’m alright, I’m alright,” Skids said nervously, desperately trying to claw his way to relative safety.

“Come on, man, I got you,” Mudlfap said, holding out his hand. As Skids reached up to take it, the monster let out a tremendous bellow and recoiled in pain as another round of missiles impacted its hide. The movement was so great that Skids lost whatever grip he had on the creature’s horn, and he began plummeting to the ground.

Thinking quickly, the green Autobot immediately fired another grappling line, but before it could reach its mark, the monster twisted sharply, and, out of nowhere, its tail appeared, hitting Skids and sending him flying.

“No!” Mudflap shouted in anguish as his brother disappeared from view. Crawling carefully along the horn, he looked desperately for a hint of green among the dull yellow sand. Nothing.

All of a sudden, he cried out in pain as his Spark seemingly disappeared. He felt...empty, like something inside of him was missing. His cognitive processors reeled. He didn’t know how he knew it, he just did. Skids, his twin, his brother, was dead.

His brother was dead.

Dead. Brother.

Skids was dead.

The world became crystal clear clarity, the revelation settling down on his Spark, the full reality setting in.

Mudflap loosened.

Skids was dead.

Mudflap screamed.

Skids was dead.

He could no longer think properly; all he knew was that he had to avenge his twin. Ignoring everything around him; the movement of the creature, the desperate attempts by the other Autobots to get him to withdraw, to the sound of a plane flying overhead, he transformed his right hand into a plasma cannon with agonising slowness. His energon burned within his system as he drew every last bit he could and forced it into his weapon. His optics narrowed fiercely as he dismissed the protests of his body, ignoring the ever-growing area of discolouration on his body as it was drained of energy.

A bright, luminous red blast spiked out of his gun, lancing into the monster’s head, incinerating and punching a hole straight through the tough hide and thick skull before searing straight through the brain. Mudflap felt the backwash of heat and ionized plasma, and the screeching of the Cybermatter within his gun as it handled far too much energy far too quickly, but he didn’t care. Nothing mattered until his brother was avenged.

But despite all the damage he had caused, he had not succeeded. Although the brain had been all but destroyed, the creature was still standing, and was periodically emitting agonized roars as it swayed where it stood.

Mudflap drew yet more energy, stealing away every last drop, leaving himself so utterly devoid of it that the discolouration spread to cover his entire body, leaving it a dull grey.

He pulled every ounce he could, shoving another blast through the monster’s back, dimly recalling Ratchet’s lectures about these creatures having two brains. Dimmer, duller than the previous one, this blast failed to burn all the way though, not even searing through all of the skin protecting the spine. But he would not give up, even as the Cybermatter that composed his form began to break down, flaking into a trillion pieces, losing strength with the lack of power.

He reached Deeper, right down to his very Spark, and Pulled.

Core Energon flooded his systems, drawn from the very fabric of his Spark, the fuel of his existence.

His self repair systems kicked into overdrive, repairing his Cybermatter just as fast as it broke down, as more energy than Mudflap had ever felt flowed directly through his body and into his gun. He loosened a third shot.

This blast was not the bright, luminous red of the previous two; it was a blinding white, a miniature sun compared to mere candles before.

Mudflap watched, his processors overclocked to the extreme, as the bolt flew towards Kaiceph’s back. It didn’t even reach the skin before the sheer heat and energy radiating away sublimated it, burning it away so fast it almost seemed to just cease to exist, cauterizing the entire surrounding flesh with frightening ease.

The monster didn’t even have time to comprehend what happened before its spinal cord was cleaved in two, and its secondary brain was destroyed.

It was dead.

A single thought passed through Mudflap’s processors before the backlash of using so much energy hit him: Skids was avenged.

Mudflap toppled backwards off the creature as it too fell, finally defeated by the orange Autobot. He was dead before he had even begun to fall.


End file.
